NJ Brokerage Network 1 Financial, Known For 2,000% IPO Surges, Eyes US Exchange Return After Hiatus
Notorious for guiding the world’s most volatile IPOs in 2022, brokerage firm Network 1 Financial Securities Inc. is gearing up to usher a new group of microcap companies into the U.S. exchanges.
What Happened: The Red Bank, New Jersey-based firm is set to underwrite for Epsium Enterprise Ltd., a Macau-based alcoholic beverage wholesaler, and BRB Foods Inc., a Brazilian snack producer, Bloomberg reported. This marks a comeback after leading only a single deal last year.
In 2022, Network 1 caught the eye of Wall Street when its IPOs, including Chinese companies like Addentax Group Corp. (NASDAQ:ATXG), saw average first-day trading surges of nearly 2,000%, per Bloomberg’s data. However, most firms it underwrote are now trading lower, with a median 88% drop since going public.
See Also: How Beamr Technology Can Boost Machine Learning
The firm, established in 1983, has previously faced regulatory scrutiny for failing to detect suspicious transactions and insider trading, and for not developing written anti-money laundering programs according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s records.
Recently, the SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Shawn Huang Shanchun, an alleged indirect owner of Network 1, accusing him of manipulating the price of Future Fintech Group Inc. (NASDAQ:FTFT). Network 1, however, is not named in the lawsuit.
“The case is just beginning, and we are a long way from any evidence being presented to a jury,” said Huang’s lawyer, Jacob Frenkel.
Read Next: Through Tree-Planting Partnership With Evertreen, Diamond Lake Minerals (OTC:DLMI) Seeks To Send Out
Image Via Shutterstock
Engineered by Benzinga Neuro, Edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote
The GPT-4-based Benzinga Neuro content generation system exploits the extensive Benzinga Ecosystem, including native data, APIs, and more to create comprehensive and timely stories for you. Learn more.