Ref:Elcom.com -This is beginning to sound more like an IPO already.
Elcom Considers IPO for Web Site, Hires Wit Capital (Update2)
Bloomberg News
July 19, 1999, 1:15 p.m. PT
Elcom Considers IPO for Web Site, Hires Wit Capital (Update2)
(Updates with closing share price)
Norwood, Massachusetts, July 19 (Bloomberg) -- Elcom International Inc., a developer of business software, hired Wit Capital Corp. as it considers selling shares of its electronic commerce unit to the public to boost shareholder value.
The company said it will also consider financing options and potential partnerships for elcom.com. Wit Capital is an Internet investment-banking firm based in New York City. Elcom rose 1 3/8,
or 28 percent, to 6 3/8.
Elcom favors selling shares, in part because of recent investor enthusiasm for other makers of Internet-business software such as Ariba Inc., which quadrupled in its first day of trading, said Elcom Chief Executive Robert Crowell. A share sale would probably take place in later this year and involve less than 20 percent of the company.
''Right now if the capital markets stay strong and the market's interest in automated procurement stays high I think we will go the IPO route,'' Crowell said in an interview.
Norwood, Massachusetts-based Elcom, which had $764 million in revenue in 1998, makes software that automates purchasing for businesses and allows them to buy online.
In 1997, Elcom hired Smith Barney Inc., now known as Salomon Smith Barney Inc., to help explore its options, including the sale of the company, to boost the value of its shares.
If the company does sell a stake to the public, the remaining 80 percent would be spun off to shareholders as soon as it gets approval for a tax-free transaction, Crowell said.
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