I hear that many Prudential offices (and this includes major cities) are getting share allocations only in the low hundreds, for the total individual branches...not thousands. I would guess that between Paul Allen, Bill Gates, all of Pru's institutional clients, and other prior commitments Prudential will need around 2 million shares to satisfy these groups. This would leave about 1,000,000 for the 1200 Pru branch offices, which on average is under 1000 shares/office. Of course, some branches will get more and some less.
So, this will be a tight IPO. Any drug or biotech fund will want to, or will have to have, some exposure to what is the furthest advanced, potential AIDS vaccine in the WORLD. Those not in it will have to buy it in the open market and with a thin float, excitement, volatility, and price appreciation should follow. |
