OK Mr. Paulson...NOW IS THE TIME!!!!!!!!!
July 15, 1999 06:01
IPO market turns up the volume
Even as scribes are writing about this week's IPOs, the new issue market for
July 19 could be the largest this year -- and the most explosive.
For openers, investment bankers are planning to price 22 IPOs next week,
yielding $1.7 billion in financing. If everything falls into place, it would be the
busiest week in 1999. But size isn't everything; several IPOs in that pipeline
could be rockets. Listed below are, according to IPO experts, some of the
hottest deals.
TOP OF THE POPS
The hunger for Internet-based music concerns continues to increase, with
MP3.com (proposed Nasdaq symbol: MPPP) shaping up as one of next
week's big hits."MP3 will probably be the IPO of the week," says Tom Taulli,
analyst with Edgar Online (Nasdaq: EDGR). "They will probably increase the
price range again and it will blow the roof off the barn."
Lead manager Credit Suisse First Boston and comanagers Hambrecht & Quist
(NYSE: HQ), BancBoston Robertson Stephens, and Charles Schwab (NYSE:
SCH) expect to price 12.3 million shares at $16 to $18 each. The proposed
offering is expected to raise $209 million, up 132.3 percent from its initial filing
terms of 9.0 million shares between $9 and $11, set on May 14.
MP3.com follows on the heels of Musicmaker.com (Nasdaq: HITS) and Liquid
Audio (Nasdaq: LQID), both of which saw their shares explode after hitting the
public markets last week.
On Wednesday, July 7, Musicmaker.com, a Reston, Virginia-based company
that sells customized music compilation CDs over the Internet, saw its IPO
pop for an opening-day gain of 70.9 percent when its stock closed at $23.94,
up from a $14-a-share pricing.
On Friday, July 9, Liquid Audio, another dot-com music company, started
trading; its shares closed at $36.56, up 143.8 percent from its $15 pricing. The
Redwood City, California-based company lets its customers listen to music
and download selected songs from its Web site.
MP3.com, located in San Diego, was one of the first to establish itself in the
Internet music arena, where it started as a portal for MP3-formatted music. It
allows artists to distribute and promote their music over the Web. Consumers
can use the site to search a music catalog of emerging artists. Currently,
MP3.com's Web site contains over 56,000 songs from over 11,000 artists,
which the company believes represents one of the largest collections of digital
music available over the Internet.
IPO experts expect fireworks when the IPO opens for trading. Besides,
remember the adage, If the deal increases, double my order. Where the stock
will start trading is anyone's guess.
"Liquid Audio is a good company that did well, and Musicmaker.com did well
also, but MP3 is at the center of music on the Web," says Mr. Taulli. "It could
maybe come out at a $7 billion to $8 billion market capitalization."
INSURE TO PLEASE
Lead manager Goldman Sachs (Nasdaq: GS) and comanagers BancBoston
Robertson Stephens, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (NYSE: DLJ), and
EOffering plan to underwrite 4.0 million shares of InsWeb (proposed Nasdaq
symbol: INSW) within an $11 to $13 a share price range.
Based in Redwood City, California, InsWeb is an online insurance broker that
links customers with over 30 insurance companies using the Internet. The
InsWeb Online Marketplace is connected with some of the largest insurance
companies, including Hartford Life (NYSE: HLI), John Hancock, and
Metropolitan Life.
Softbank is the company's leading stockholder, owning about 9.2 million
shares, or 32.2 percent of the outstanding shares. (Softbank is a controlling
owner of Ziff-Davis [NYSE: ZD], which is an investor in Red Herring.)
BEST OF THE REST
Hambrecht & Quist, along with comanagers U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray,
Thomas Weisel Partners, and Wit Capital (Nasdaq: WITC) will offer 5.0 million
shares of the Art Technology Group (proposed Nasdaq symbol: ARTG) at $10
to $12 each. The company's Java-based Dynamo software helps businesses to
manage customer relationships and to build Internet e-commerce. The
company is located in Boston. Softbank Ventures owns about 6.5 percent, or
1.6 million shares, of the company's stock.
Goldman Sachs, along with comanagers Hambrecht & Quist and Bear Stearns
(NYSE: BSC), expects to price 6.0 million shares of Engage Technologies
(proposed Nasdaq symbol: ENGA) between $9 and $11 each. Engage is an
Internet advertising venture included in CMGI's (Nasdaq: CMGI) portfolio of
Internet companies. CMGI owns about 96 percent of Engage Technologies.
The company's products allow its clients to collect demographic profiles of
Internet users and target online advertising to individuals' interests.
Lead manager Credit Suisse First Boston and comanagers Hambrecht & Quist
and Morgan Keegan will offer 4.0 million shares of Gadzoox Networks
(proposed Nasdaq symbol: ZOOX) at $9 to $11 a share. The company, located
in San Jose, California, provides hardware and software for storage area
networks for corporate networks.
HealthGate Data (proposed Nasdaq symbol: HGAT) expects to go public next
week. SG Cowen, with comanagers Banc of America Securities and Volpe
Brown Whelan, will price 4.6 million shares within a filing range of $10 to $12
each. HealthGate Data provides health care information to doctors, other
health care workers, and patients over the Internet. The company is based in
Burlington, Massachusetts. |
