Comdisco Ventures' IPO gets shareholder OK
CDO approves "venture" tracking stock:
By Jenny Spitz, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 8:00 PM ET Apr 20, 2000 NewsWatch
ROSEMONT, Ill. (CBS.MW) -- Comdisco shareholders Thursday approved the company's proposal to create a tracking stock for its Silicon Valley venture financing unit, Comdisco Ventures.
Shareholders of the Chicago-area-based technology group (CDO: news, msgs) also voted to increase the number of the company's common shares to 1.8 billion from 750 million, establish a stock incentive plan for the Comdisco Ventures unit's management and revise some existing Comdisco stock plans to allow the issuance of Comdisco Ventures shares under those plans.
Comdisco filed to register the tracking stock with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 12. See related story.
Comdisco Ventures, headquartered on VC-dense Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif., provides venture leases, venture debt and direct equity financing to venture-capital-backed companies. Ask Jeeves (ASKJ: news, msgs), Ariba (ARBA: news, msgs) and Copper Mountain Networks (CMTN: news, msgs) have all received backing from the company.
A company spokeswoman said the next step for Comdisco Ventures is to await SEC approval. She declined to comment on potential market demand for the stock in light of recent Nasdaq volatility.
The company also refused to comment on when it might set a date for the initial public offering or at what range the stock would be priced.
Comdisco Ventures isn't the only firm previously dedicated to aiding start-ups en route to IPOs that's currently planning a stock offering of its own.
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