IPOs: two on tap
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December 1, 2001: 7:00 a.m. ET
Lawson Software to sell 14M shares at $13-$15 via Lehman/JP Morgan.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The new issues market gears up this week with a technology company and the sole provider of alumina in China set to test the IPO waters.
New issues staged something of a rebound in November and now December promises to beat last year's totals. In 2000, ten IPOs raised $3.2 billion during December. This year, 13 companies are expected to go public and will attempt to raise $6.6 billion, according to Dealogic, a New York-based investment banking research firm.
Technology IPOs ended on a high note with the IPO of Magma Design Automation Inc. (LAVA: up $1.89 to $22.79, Research, Estimates) , a provider of chip technology software, which surged nearly 50 percent on Nov. 20, making it one of the best IPO debuts this year.
Now Lawson Software Inc., which offers enterprise software for retail, healthcare, professional services, financial services and the public sector, will attempt to float a new issue. Lawson's software handles distribution, procurement and customer services for customers such as TIAA-CREF, Safeway Inc. and the American Cancer Society Inc.
St. Paul, Minn.-based Lawson also provides training, consulting and implementation services.
Lawson reported a near 72 percent drop in operating income to $2.5 million on $100.9 million in revenue for the three months ended Aug. 31. The company posted $8.8 million operating income on $84.2 million revenue for the same time period last year.
John Fitzgibbon, editor of IPO Desktop, has a 2-star rating on the deal and expects it to climb by 50 cents.
Lawson plans to sell 14 million shares at $13 to $15 each, down from $15 to $17, via Lehman Brothers and J.P. Morgan. The software company plans to price Thursday and trade Friday under the Nasdaq symbol "LWSN."
Also on tap is Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. which is the only provider of the raw material, alumina, in the country of China. The company is also the dominant supplier of alumina to the Chinese market, providing nearly 70 percent of alumina products in that country.
As a foreign offering, Aluminum Corp. of China's prospectus was unavailable. The company had $304.8 million in income on $2.1 billion in revenue, according to data from IPO.com.
Alcoa Inc. (AA: up $0.60 to $38.60, Research, Estimates) , the world's biggest aluminum producer, will take an 8 percent stake in the company, IPO.com said.
The Beijing-based company plans to sell 23.3 million American Depositary shares at $14.74 to $18.59 each via Morgan Stanley and China International Capital Corp. The company will trade under ticker "ACH."
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