Trader’s Narrative

“Teranet is a leading provider of land-based information products and services. Teranet operates in Ontario and provides access to the Ontario Electronic Land Registration System (”ELRS”). This enables customers to conduct electronic registrations as well as title and writ searches relating to real property. Teranet has the exclusive right to access the data in and operate the ELRS until March 31, 2017.”

With its valuable and cozy partnership with the Ontario government, Teranet has one foot in the private sector and one foot in the public sector. Today’s IPO and the looming expiry of their monopoly on the horizon nudge the company towards becoming a completely private enterprise.

The timing of the IPO though wasn’t that smart. However, it provides a good litmus test. If Teranet shows strength in such a horrible market, that would be most impressive. The massive size of Teranet’s IPO raises the likelihood that it will be added shortly to the S&P/TSX income trust index . If it does, it will compell institutions and index funds to buy it, pushing the price up significantly. Watch the price action in the coming days and weeks to see if the smart money has an inside line on this.

Until then, here’s today’s intraday action:

Notice that it opened below the IPO price of $10 a unit - but on the plus side, it did trade higher and closed at the day’s high. The intraday action reminds me of MasterCard’s (contraction, expansion and all that jazz).