Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : United Parcel Service Inc-(UPS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Angela B. who wrote (79)	11/9/1999 6:03:00 PM
From: KENNETH DOAN	Respond to of 368

(REUTERS) FOCUS-UPS raises $5.47 bln in largest U.S. IPO ever FOCUS-UPS raises $5.47 bln in largest U.S. IPO ever (adds information on oversubscription and comments from source familiar with the deal in graf 5, 13, 14) By Reshma Kapadia NEW YORK, Nov 9 (Reuters) - United Parcel Services Inc. entered the record books on Tuesday, raising $5.47 billion in the largest U.S. initial public offering ever, as eager investors bought 10 percent of the package delivery service. The Atlanta-based firm, which delivers 12 million packages each business day, priced 109.4 million shares at $50, above the upwardly revised price range. UPS has said that it will use its publicly traded stock as currency to make acquisitions in logistics, distribution and electronic commerce. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter was the lead underwriter on the deal. The world's largest package delivery company took the No.1 U.S. IPO title away from Conoco Inc., which raised $4.4 billion globally and $3.96 billion domestically in October 1998, according to Thomson Financial Securities Data. The deal was more than 10 times oversubscribed in the U.S. from the institutional side. Including retail and international interest, it was oversubscribed by about 15 times, a source familiar with the deal said. Its familiar name and long history have attracted strong demand and has led to expectations that UPS' stock will deliver in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday. "This is the 500-pound gorilla. It is coming in with incredible momentum and with a very positive view from both the industry and consumers alike," said Irv DeGraw, research director at WorldFinanceNet.com. "I suspect it's going to get a great deal of retail play because everyone knows the name and I know UPS employees are actively looking at the stock for the aftermarket. I also expect every institutional player is going to want a hold piece of it." Expectations that its business would benefit from the e-commerce boom is boosting enthusiasm for the highly-anticipated deal, which represented a 10 percent ownership interest, analysts said. The company, which posted third-quarter net income of $577 million on $6.72 billion in revenues, plans to use funds from the offering to buy back some of its class A shares that are held by employees and descendants of employees. "If it starts to resemble an Internet pure-play opening, then I would caution anybody looking at pre-opening indications to freeze in their tracks and wait for the emotionalism to die down," said David Menlow, president of IPO Financial Network, adding that he sees UPS as a good long-term value. Many hot Internet companies have logged several-fold gains on their debut. Although industry watchers do not expect a similar moonshot, they see solid gains for UPS. FDX Corp., the parent of Federal Express, is one of UPS' competitors. Its stock closed Tuesday at 44, down 3/8 on the day, on the New York Stock Exchange. One of the challenges of bringing the deal to market was to gauge market sentiment, the source close to the deal said. "I think the management did an excellent job and had a powerful story and the deal was extremely well-received," the source said. "The challenge of it was knowing ... the market is very skittish, especially for new issues and about Y2K (concerns). It was difficult to predict predict (whether) we would have a market environment where we could do a deal of this size." anyone lending the shares?????