The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Metatek-Group priced its initial public offering at $5 per share, raising $40-million, below its initial target of $50-million. The Globe's Tim Kiladze writes that the company, which creates detailed underground maps using full tensor gravity gradiometry, faced soft investor demand, leading to a pricing range that was initially set between $5.75 and $6.25. Canada has seen a downturn in IPOs after a surge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies that went public in 2021 and 2022 saw their share prices fall, resulting in several going private again through buyouts from private equity firms at lower valuations. While Metatek is a British company, its largest shareholder is Calgary-based private equity firm PillarFour Capital Partners, which is selling $5-million worth of its shares in the offering. When reviewing its options to go public, Metatek chose Canada because its technology is often deployed to search for minerals and oil and gas. "It is a technology name, but because of Canadian investors' broad understanding of minerals, mining, and oil and gas, we just thought it was the natural home for us," said PillarFour co-founder Paul Colucci earlier this month.