some paradyne stuff,for those wondeing what is this company--
IPO Gives Largo, Fla.-Based Telecom Firm Paradyne
Networks A Big Boost
Cherie Jacobs Lane
07/17/1999
KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News: Tampa Tribune,
Fla
Copyright (C) 1999 KRTBN Knight Ridder Tribune Business
News; Source: World Reporter (TM)
Todd Koffman enjoys his job, marketing stocks for Raymond
James & Associates. Especially when he has a deal like Paradyne
Networks Inc. to work with.
Koffman, vice president of equity research for St.
Petersburg-based Raymond James, watched shares of Paradyne
rocket Friday from the $17 offering price to $55.50.
"It doesn't get much better than this in my line of work," said
Koffman, whose company helped underwrite the deal. "It's a
uniquely positioned company in one of the hottest areas of
telecommunications equipment."
In its return to public trading, the Largo-based
telecommunications company raised $102 million Friday by
selling 6 million shares at $17. The company remains controlled
by Fort Worth, Texas-based Texas Pacific Group, which was to
keep a majority stake in the offering, with roughly half the shares.
Paradyne makes software and equipment that enables computers
to talk to each other at high speeds.
One IPO researcher said Paradyne's run-up reflects a larger
trend: The hype over dot.com stocks is fading, in favor of
companies that build equipment and systems allowing people
access to the Internet.
"Right now in the initial public offering market, one of the
strongest segments is the networking sector. Paradyne fits right
into that sector," said Irv DeGraw, research director for
WorldFinanceNet.com, formerly called Stockstowatch.com.
"We knew right away it was going to be an explosive hit."
Two other networking companies had IPOs this week. Ravisent,
a small deal offered Friday, rose from $12 to close at $17.63.
Efficient Networks, which went public Thursday, was offered at
$15 a share and closed Friday at $58.69.
Paradyne's offering was underwritten by Donaldson, Lufkin &
Jenrette, BancBoston Robertson Stephens, Dain Rauscher
Wessels and Raymond James.
"It was pretty exciting," said Lesley Bateman, spokeswoman for
Paradyne. "It was nice to see the way we were received in the
market today."
The money will be used for company operations, though officials
have no specific plans yet, Bateman said.
Paradyne, renowned for its leading-edge technological
developments in modems, was among the first to develop digital
subscriber line technology. That eliminated the need to lay
fiber-optic cable to every home -- a costly endeavor once
thought necessary to make fast access possible.
Paradyne lost $3.6 million in 1998 on revenue of $198.8 million.
About 700 of its employees work in Pinellas County.
The company was founded in 1969, acquired by AT&T in 1989
and spun out of AT&T as part of Lucent Technologies in 1996.
That year, a limited partnership controlled by the Texas Pacific
Group acquired Paradyne and took the company private.
"In addition to this being a hot sector, when I look at Paradyne,
I'm looking at a company that has a brand, that has a reputation,"
DeGraw said. Though the company has grown at about 9.7
percent, which DeGraw calls slow, he expects that to change with
the money the company raised Friday. |
