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IPO Roundup: Internet Capital Group flies in debut, Mission Critical also gains

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Internet Capital Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICGE) more than doubled, rising 12 3/8 to 24 3/8 after the business-to-business e-commerce holding company priced 14.9 million shares on at $12 dollars each in Thursday's initial public offering.

Internet Capital Group is an Internet holding company that integrates its partner companies into a network for business-to-business e-commerce. As of July 15, the company owned interests in 35 business-to-business e-commerce companies. The company of 35 was founded in 1996, and compares to CMG Information (Nasdaq: CMGI).

Part of the companies appeal lies in the e-commerce buzz, and the company's advisory board, which has individuals with executive-level experience at such companies such as Cisco Systems, Coca-Cola Company, Exodus Communications, IBM, MasterCard, Merrill Lynch and Microsoft, the company said in a release.

Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. has 2.2 million shares reserved for its shareholders, 1.3 million of which ICG will received no proceeds. The offering was underwritten by Merrill Lynch & Co., BancBoston Robertson Stephens, Banc of America Securities LLC, Deutsche Banc Alex Brown and Wit Capital Corporation.

Internet Capital Group plans to use proceeds from the offering to repay any outstanding balances on its revolving bank credit facility, buy interests in other business-to-business e-commerce companies, and increase its holdings of existing partner companies, the company said. Other IPOs Thursday:

  • Mission Critical Software Inc., (Nasdaq: MCSW) picked up 9 5/8 to 25 5/8 Thursday afternoon after it priced 3.8 million shares at $16 each.

    The company is selling 2.8 million of these shares, selling stockholders are selling 1.0 million shares, from Mission Critical Software will not receive any proceeds. The IPO is underwritten by Hambrecht & Quist, BancBoston Robertson Stephens, SoundView Technology Group and Charles Schwab & Co. Inc.

    The Houston, Texas-based company provides administration and operations management software designed to improve the security and reliability of corporate and Internet-based Windows NT networks. The company's dependence on its relationship with Microsoft is one the risks cited in their regulatory filings.

  • Pivotal Corporation (Nasdaq: PVTL) crept up 5/16 to 12 5/16 after 3.5 million shares debuted at $12 each.

    Pivotal Corporation provides customer relationship management software that automates and unifies the intern al sales, marketing and customer service functions. Silknet (Nasdaq: SILK) and Mustang Software (Nasdaq: MSTG) are similar to the company of 270 employees, founded in 1990.

    The IPO was underwritten by Merrill Lynch & Co. and co-managed by Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and Dain Rauscher Wessels. The company is based in Vancouver, Canada.

  • Cobalt Group Inc. (Nasdaq: CBLT) shares became the latest broken IPO as it dropped 2 11/16 to 8 5/16, after 4.5 million shares were priced at $11 each, below their expected range of $13 to $15 each. The offering was underwritten by BancBoston Robertson Stephens.

    The Seattle, Washington- based company offers Internet marketing and data aggregation for auto dealers. Autobytel.com Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL) and Newgen Results Corp. (Nasdaq: NWGN) are similar companies.