Basin Water IPO & Mueller Water Products IPO
IPO REPORT: Basin Water Ups Shares In Offering, Prices Atop Range
online.barrons.com
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
By Steve Gelsi
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2006 6:16 p.m. EDT
NEW YORK (Dow Jones) "Basin Water Inc. rose as much as 39% Friday as the maker of filtration systems wowed Wall Street with its efforts to capitalize on the demand for drinkable water in the arid western states.
Basin Water (BWTR) opened at $15.70, well above its $12 IPO price. The stock changed hands at $16.55 in recent action on the Nasdaq.
In a sign of keen demand, Basin Water added a million shares to its IPO and offered its 6 million shares atop the $10-to-$12 range that had been targeted. Through underwriter Janney Montgomery Scott, the deal raised $72 million.
Earlier in the week, the company hiked its estimated price range from $8 to $10 a share as interest built up.
The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., company, which sells systems for the treatment of contaminated groundwater, turned a profit of $563,000 on revenue of $12 million in 2005, compared with a loss of $556,000 on revenue of $4.3 million in the previous year.
As of Dec. 31, its revenue backlog was $77 million, an increase of 120%, from the year-ago period.
"We expect to achieve our goal of becoming the leading provider of groundwater treatment systems in the United States through the following strategies: target key groundwater contaminants; expand our business throughout the arid west; extend our geographic reach throughout the United States; and maintain and extend our technology position," the company said.
Meanwhile, Mueller Water Products was also trying to meet the IPO market's thirst, saying Friday that it plans to offer 23.5 million shares at $16 to $18 apiece in its upcoming initial public offering.
The IPO from the Tampa, Fla., manufacturer of water infrastructure and flow-control products will raise about $400 million with an underwriting team that includes Bank of America (BAC) .
Walter Industries (WLT) controls about 97% of voting power of the company's shares, Mueller said in its IPO prospectus."
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