IPO Plus Fund FAQ

What is the IPO Plus Aftermarket Fund?
The IPO Aftermarket Fund (IPO Plus) is an open-ended mutual fund investing in IPOs on the offering and in aftermarket trading. There is a $5,000 minimum investment required for regular accounts and a $2,500 minimum for IRA accounts. There is no sales load being charged.
Is this a load or no-load fund? What types of expenses are involved?
There is no front or back-end sales charges. There will be a 1.5% management fee and other expenses including 12b-1. Total fees will not exceed 2.5%.
How do I invest in the IPO Plus Fund?
Call toll free 1-888-IPO-FUND (1-888-476-3863) for a prospectus and application or follow the instructions on this web page under the section Investing in the IPO Plus Fund.
I already have an account in the IPO Plus Fund directly with Renaissance Capital. How can I make an additional investment?
Mail your check, along with the bottom tear-off portion of your account statement, to: IPO Plus Fund, c/o Gemini Fund Services, LLC; 4020 South 147th Street, Suite 2; Omaha, NE 68137. Make sure to write your account number on your check. If your IPO Plus Fund account has bank information, you can also invest on-line. Click here to invest!
When and how often does the IPO Plus Fund distribute income dividends and capital gains?
IPO Plus Fund's dividends and capital gains, if any, are distributed once a year in December. The IPO Plus Fund has not had an income dividend or capital gains distribution since its inception (12/19/97).
What is the IPO Plus Fund's ticker symbol?
IPOSX. Up-to-date information on the IPO Plus Fund's NAV is also available.
Are you only going to buy IPOs?
We plan to buy IPOs on their offering as well as in the aftermarket. Typically, we will focus on companies that have gone public recently. Essentially it is an IPO fund because the vast majority of our investment ideas come from the IPO universe. True, we can buy companies in the aftermarket, but for the most part, they will be companies that we initially looked at as IPOs and then for one reason or another decided to revisit.
What types of companies do you plan to buy?
We plan to buy companies from a broad range of industries. Basically, we will consider any company that is going public or has gone public recently. In terms of size, we focus on companies with market capitalizations above $50 million.
What stocks does the IPO Plus Fund own now?
View the IPO Fund's top holdings.
Aren’t IPOs risky?
Of course any type of investment is risky if you don't do your homework. For more than 7 years, Renaissance Capital has been analyzing IPOs, so we have a significant amount of experience in assessing IPOs. We pride ourselves on performing the most in-depth research possible on IPOs so, while many IPOs are smaller and riskier than average companies, we try to minimize that risk through our extensive research efforts. We carefully analyze the prospectus, compare the IPO to similar publicly traded companies, speak with competitors, attend roadshows, and basically do anything we have to in order to properly assess an IPO.
What if you can’t get any allocations on a hot new issue?
There is a misperception in the market today that the only money to be made in IPOs is by buying the Netscapes of the world at the offer price. In fact, many companies that come public are misunderstood or underfollowed by the general investment public. For example, five years ago, nobody truly appreciated the vast potential of the Internet. An investor could have done very well spotting that trend early on and investing not only on the offering but in the aftermarket as well.
Your prospectus indicates that you expect portfolio turnover could reach 200% or more per year. Won't that create significant tax burdens for potential investors?
Because of high turnover, the IPO Plus Fund is likely to have a high proportionate amount of short term capital gains compared with other funds with low turnover. We know that shareholders are averse to paying taxes on short term capital gains and we try to minimize the tax burden as much as we deem to be prudent.
How is the IPO Plus Fund different from other growth funds that also invest in IPOs?
Our fund offers more diversification than the typical small-cap growth fund. We can invest in companies of any size, we can invest in foreign issuers and we will invest using value criteria for more established companies as well as growth criteria for younger companies. Without a doubt, technology companies make up a large percentage of IPOs, but there are strong performing IPOs in many industries.
In the IPO market, there has traditionally been a clubby atmosphere. How do you think the big Wall Street banks will react to a fund like this?
In many ways, the big Wall Street firms are very much in favor of the fund. They are just as anxious as anyone to see the little guy get a piece of the pie.
How much are you looking to raise? Is there a point where you will stop accepting new investors?
At this point, its too early to think about a potential cap. If we ever reach a point where we think that we have too much money or too few great ideas, than we would close the IPO Plus Fund to new investors.
How much money are you investing in the Fund yourselves?
The principals of Renaissance Capital provided the initial capital and are the largest individual investors in the Fund. In addition, Renaissance Capital is paying all expenses over the 2.5% cap.
How many issues do you typically plan to hold in your portfolio?
It really depends on the state of the market, both the broad market and the IPO market. Overall, however, the fund is going to be diversified, meaning we're going to invest in at least 20 issues with no more of 5% of our assets in any one stock. Typically, we plan to hold from 50 to 70 issues.