Data firm Palantir Technologies Inc. and software company Asana Inc. are both poised to launch their direct listings Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, the biggest test yet for this still largely untested model for initial public offerings. Only two companies of note— Spotify Technology SA and Slack Technologies Inc. —had ever completed direct listings before Wednesday. Given the newness of direct listings and their complicated nature, some people close to the offerings said they aren’t thrilled that two are happening on the same day. Both Palantir and Asana have enlisted Morgan Stanley as their lead adviser and Citadel Securities LLC as their designated market maker to help oversee their stock-market debut. That is the same team that worked on the only other two major direct listings: Spotify in 2018 and Slack in 2019.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 29, 2020 17:59 UTC