Here is some more background info. on IMPT...
<<Argentina's Impsat joins IPO fiesta, shares rise
By Reshma Kapadia
NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Argentina's Impsat Fiber Networks Inc. joined the initial public offering fiesta Tuesday with its shares closing 70 percent higher.
The private telecommunications network and Internet services provider raised $195.5 million after pricing 11.5 million shares, or 12.6 percent of the company at $17, the top of its price range. The offer price had already been revised upward.
The shares of the Buenos Aires-based firm, which is building a Pan-Latin American communications network, ended the day 12 points up at 29 on the Nasdaq.
"We are very happy and satisfied (with the deal). There was strong demand from institutional investors. We think the Latin American market is growing at such a rate that we are seeing the market focus on the opportunities arising," said Guillermo Jofre, Impsat's chief financial officer said in a telephone interview.
Impsat started out as a satellite company and is now building a fiber network through Latin America. It owns and operates networks in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, according to its prospectus.
Jofre said the first phase of its network deployment is expected to be completed by the end of the year. At that time, the company will look into the expansion of the network.
Impsat benefited from two hot buzzwords in the IPO market: broadband and Latin American. Investors have been eager to buy into new Latin American issues as infrastructure build-outs allow the Internet use to flourish.
Jupiter Communications' Lucas Graves said rough estimates call for the amount of regional bandwidth to grow to 10 times what is available today by 2001.
Issues like Impsat's gives U.S. investors a means of capitalizing on the strong growth projections for the fastest growing Internet market in the world. Impsat was investors' first opportunity to do so this year.
The Latin American Internet market "is one of those markets that's going to be very big. The upside in growth potential is very high," said Kenan Pollack, money editor at Hoover's Online.
An agreement with Global Crossing , which will allow Impsat to interconnect its networks in certain Latin American markets and give it global telecommunications access, and its pact with Nortel Networks Corp. also attracted investors, analysts said.
Another attractive quality was equity investors British Telecommunications Plc and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Argentine holding Grupo Pescarmona also has a stake in the company, analysts said.
Competitors include telecommunications firms, such as Telefonos de Mexico , in the countries Impsat is entering and global telecom players.
"The incumbents are mainly focused on providing telephony and their networks are suited for telephony," Jofre said. "We are the only one that has a network being built in an overall plan that is designed as one whole and allows for consistent service."
The difference between the broadband network development in the United States and in Latin America is the way it started, he added.
The fragmented state of the U.S. telecommunications market created an environment in which companies were offering different types of services. But with the recent spate of consolidation, industry players are moving toward networks that provide all types of communications services. Latin American players are trying to build networks for all service.>>
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For additional Impsat Fiber Network info. and discussion check out the SI or Raging Bull IMPT threads.
Good Luck Investing.
Best Regards,
Scott
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