Marimba hikes IPO offering price
Facing strong demand, Marimba prices its initial public offering beyond the high end of its range.
Marimba, once known as a "push" technology company, will begin trading tomorrow under the ticker "MRBA."
The company, which updates and monitors enterprise software over the network, priced at $20 per share in an effort to raise $80 million in capital. Earlier this week Marimba raised its pricing range to between $16 and $18 per share, up from its earlier range of $13 to $15 per share.
Marimba is planning to float out 4 million shares, of which nearly 3.6 million will be from the company.
Internet-related issues have been doing well of late, with Mpath Interactive and Razorfish among the latest IPOs to have strong showings this week.
Analysts say investors have been hungry for Internet-related issues since the start of the year.
Mpath, which licenses technology that allows users to create media-rich interactive sites and games over the Internet, saw its shares jump nearly threefold from its strike price on its first day of trading today. The stock priced at $18 per share and closed at $50.63.
Meanwhile, Web site design company Razorfish saw its shares double from its initial price of $16 to close at $33.5 on Tuesday, its first day of trading.
Marimba, led by charismatic chief executive Kim Polese, was one of a handful of "push" companies that many expected to ride the IPO wave sooner, when "push" was in. But as "push" lost favor in the industry, Marimba's debut on the public markets fell into question.
Nonetheless, the company has taken on strength as it has narrowed its net loss and grew its revenues by threefold over the past year.
Last year the company posted a net loss of $5.7 million, or 59 cents per share, on revenue of $17.1 million. And in the previous year, the company had a net loss of $7.7 million, or $1.57 per share, on revenue of $5.6 million.
Underwriters for the deal are Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Credit Suisse First Boston, BT Alex. Brown, and Hambrecht & Quist.