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IPO year kicks off
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January 19, 2002: 7:00 a.m. ET
Initial public offerings arrive in 2002 with $60M medical device deal.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The initial public offering market eases into gear this week with a $60 million healthcare deal.
Alliance Medical Corp. plans to be the first company to go public this year, as underwriters and investors alike hope to erase the memory of the dismal new issues market of 2001.
IPO activity dropped more than 80 percent in 2001, with only 93 companies going public, raising $45.3 billion. By contrast, 450 companies went public in 2000, raising a total of $120.2 billion.
IPOs rebounded in the fourth quarter, led by Prudential Financial's (PRU: down $0.27 to $30.25, Research, Estimates) $3 billion offering.
But according to experts, the momentum won't carry through as IPO investors traditionally test the waters before diving in.
"Every year the IPO market gets off to a slow start, and given last year's performance, it should get off to an even slower start this year," said Corey Ostman, co-CEO of Alert-IPO.com.
"Generally the first IPOs of the year are very quiet," Ostman said.
Alliance Medical is not expected to buck that trend, and there have been no changes in the number of shares or the price range of the deal to indicate where it might move, he added.
Phoenix-based Alliance reprocesses disposable medical devices for companies, saving the companies the cost of buying new devices, and has contracts with clients representing more than 3,000 health care facilities.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, 2001 Alliance had revenue of more than $11.5 million and a net loss of more than $6 million, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Alliance plans to raise about $60 million, pricing 4 million shares between $14 and $16 per share through lead underwriter UBS Warburg.
The company plans to begin trading on Jan. 24 as "ALMC" on the Nasdaq. 
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