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Chiles IPO no gusher
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September 19, 2000: 4:53 p.m. ET
Offshore drilling firm sees slight gain; ViryaNet rebounds to close up
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Offshore drilling rig company Chiles Offshore LLC produced a moderate gain in its first day of trading Tuesday, while software provider ViryaNet Ltd. managed to stay above water.
Houston-based Chiles (COD: Research, Estimates) rose $2 to close at $21 while ViryaNet gained 6 cents to $8.06.
The two deals are the first to open since the IPO market went on hiatus for the Labor Day holiday.
"Two deals don't make a trend," said Ben Holmes, president of IPOpros.com. "We have to step back and wait a couple of days."
 Chiles Offshore, an old-economy deal, produced a respectable premium, climbing 11 percent. With oil selling at $30 a barrel, the Chiles issue is riding on the high prices.
"It pays to take oil and gas out of the ground these days," Holmes said. "Any oil and gas deal is going to have some pop."
However, analysts are waiting for the IPOs from Omnisky Corp. and Inrange Technologies Corp. to see how Wall Street reacts to a re-energized IPO market. Both deals are expected later this week.
"We expect to see some kind of pop out of these," Holmes said.
Chiles sold 7.8 million shares at $19 each via lead underwriters Credit Suisse and Salomon Smith Barney. The company had planned to sell 6.5 million shares at $17 to $19 each.
Chiles operates three of the seven existing ultra-premium type drilling rigs. The ultra-premium rigs can drill in deeper water and use a more powerful mud pump, which helps them drill faster.
In 1999 the company had sales of more than $7.65 million and lost more than $3.96 million.
A software IPO and a listing
ViryaNet Ltd. made its debut Tuesday, trading below its offer price for much of the day, but managed a late-day rebound to close at $8.06.
ViryaNet (VRYA: Research, Estimates) priced its IPO late Tuesday, selling 4 million shares at $8 each, below its expected range, via underwriters led by Chase H&Q. The company had planned on selling 4.5 million shares at $10 to $12 each.
Jerusalem, Israel-based ViryaNet develops business-to-business Internet software for customers such as EMC Corp. and Sun Microsystems.
United Microelectronics Corp. also traded for much of Tuesday below its offer price but rallied late to close flat at $14. The Hsinchu, Taiwan-based semiconductor foundry is already trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
United Microelectronics (UMC: Research, Estimates) sold 90 million American Depositary shares at $14 each via Morgan Stanley. The company had planned on selling 90 million ADS at $13.65. Each ADS represents five common shares. 
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