Tech Slide Helps Lift IPOs

Whew, what an e-ride! After the Nasdaq dropped over 10 percent during the week, (some say it was the long awaited “correction”), it rebounded nearly 115 points on Friday. Yet, investors saw the pullback in tech stocks as an opportunity, emptied their piggy banks, and shopped for IPOs.

The biggest winner was ArrowPoint Communications (ARPT). It went up
straight as, well, an arrow.

The company had been originally scheduled for an opening price of from
$15-17 per share, but with indications of strong demand, it was raised to
$34 for its 5 million shares.

A maker of Web-switching products, Arrowpoint shot up 248 percent to
118-31/64 in its trading debut on Friday. It raised $170 million in the
offering, with a market capitalization of roughly $4.1 billion.

The lead underwriter was Goldman Sachs.

Earlier in the week, Websense (WBSN) more than doubled as it went to
47-3/4. By Friday, it inched up to 48-1/16.

IDC estimates that mor e than 30 percent of employee Internet activity in the workplace
is non-work-related. This personal use of company Internet access results
in lost productivity (although, it does mean lots of fun for employees).
Websense provides software and related services so that
management can ensure that employees are using the Internet according to
company policy.

Chase H&Q was the lead underwriter.

Tuesday saw CompleTel (CLTL) ending at 23-9/16, up 6-9/16. By
Friday, it slipped to 19-15/16.

Founded in 1998, CompleTel has deployed fiber-optic networks and provides
voice/data telecommunications and Internet-related services in England,
France and Germany.

Salomon Smith Barney and Goldman Sachs were joint global coordinators.

In the broadband field that has yet to pick the high-speed connection
winner, the IPO for Telocity (TLCT) had no velocity. Priced at $12,
Telocity gained 1-1/4 points by selling 11 million shares. By Friday, it still was not going anywhere at 12-3/8.

The company delivers online services and content to customers using digital
subscriber line (DSL) technology via traditional copper phone lines.

Telocity recently completed an agreement with NBC to jointly design and
provide content
for the entertainment, e-commerce, gaming and search applications sectors.

The lead underwriter was Merrill Lynch.