Loved the irony of this National Post - Financial Post article.
Can't seem to link to the article which can be found by clicking on the Financial Post link at-
nationalpost.com
Here's some of it;
Canadians fear they're shut out
of hot Internet IPOs
Prefer U.S. Investors: Firms looking for
more than just money
article by
Susan Heinrich
Financial Post
Investors scrambling
to get in on the IPO
of the next big
Internet success story
aren't the only ones
disappointed when
many of the new
issues prove too hot
to get a hold of.
Professional money
managers eagerly
eyeing several
technology
companies, including
Wysdom Inc., a
Toronto-based
Internet company
expected to go public
in coming months,
acknowledge they
are unlikely to get
anywhere near those
shares.
Wysdom has yet to
announce plans for
an IPO, but managers were buzzing with anticipation last week,
saying they expect the company, with its specialized wireless
technology, to be the next big cyber-success -- but one only a
select few will share in. "That is going to be very hot, and very hard
to get a hold of," said one manager at a large mutual fund company
in Toronto who asked not to be named.
Professional investors, who manage pensions and mutual funds,
usually have their pick of stocks. But they complain they are being
left out in the cold because technology companies are handpicking
their investors, and in many cases bypassing Canadian institutions in
favour of U.S. investors.
Gene Vollendorf, specialty equities manager with Bissett &
Associates Investment Management in Calgary, is frustrated with
the trend. He placed an order with the investment dealer leading
Wysdom's financing last month and came up empty.
"What's the point of showing [the deal] to all your Canadian
accounts and then [them] coming back and saying, 'your fill is
zero'?" he said.
In Wysdom's case, Mr. Hassan said the company was looking for
"value-added investors," when it sold shares last month.
"We wanted to keep the group quite small, so that we would have a
little bit more focus from the people that did invest. We [wanted]
our investor base to help us with getting contacts and really helping
us grow, quicker than we would otherwise."
********************************************************
There is more to the article. I found it well-written, and a good read.
Hard to imagine why any Canadian company might look for investors and financing, south of the border.
Let's see;
Sprott participated in the recent financing of Wi-LAN (mid-February).
Since then, that house has been far-and-away the largest net seller of shares.
IMO, that house has, by volume and timing of selling, greatly reduced the value that WIN's shares might have achieved over this past month.
Given that; it's probably just petty for good, viable, high-tech companies to seek American, or off-shore, financing.
After all, who doesn't like getting screwed?
Cush
Note: I've added the bolding to the text, and edited the portion of the article posted.
And obviously, I am a Wi-LAN shareholder who has not been happy with all the selling by the House of Sprott. |
