Dribs and drabs. That basically explains the IPO market so far this year.
And, expect this to continue for some time.
However, there is a mega IPO on tap for this week:
KPMG. Yes, this is
the consulting arm of the Big Five accounting firm KPMG LLP.
IPO investors are craving stability and KPMG certainly offers enough of it.
In all, the company has more than 2000 clients. In fact, KPMG has entered
into key alliances, such as with Cisco, Qwest, FedEx and Microsoft (Cisco
invested $1 billion). With the alliances, KPMG is better able to offer
comprehensive technology solutions for clients.
Since 1995, revenues have grown from $569.7 million to $1.942 billion as of
1999.
The lead underwriter is Morgan Stanley and the price range is $16-$18 (the
company intends to issue a whopping 112 million shares). The proposed
ticker symbol is KCIN.
ATP Oil & Gas plans
to go public this week. The company develops natural gas and oil properties
in the Gulf of Mexico.
While the company was profitable last year ($18 million in net income), this
was somewhat misleading. Rather, the profit was the result of a one-time
gain. In fact, for the first nine months of 2000, the company had a loss of
$4.3 million.
True, the problems in California are positive for the company. However, by
all accounts, it looks like energy prices have topped out.
The proposed ticker symbol is ATPG. The price range has been increased from
$15-$17 to $15-$18, indicating rising demand for the offering (the company
plans to issue 7.5 million shares). The lead underwriter is Lehman Brothers
and the company plans to raise about $123 million. Although, much of the
money will be used to pay off about $111 million in debt.
Last Week’s Action
So far, January has been dismal. There have only been three IPOs priced,
raising a mere $212.4 million. During January of 2000, there were 24 IPOs
with $4.5 billion raised.
Last week, Exact Sciences
went public. But the IPO only increased 38 cents to $14.38.
Then again, the company is early stage. It develops products for colorectal
cancer (the company has 10 patents). Unfortunately, the company does not
expect any material revenues until 2003. In the first nine months of 2000,
losses were about $6.7 million.
