Three public offerings on tap this week
Three newly public companies will be welcomed on Wall Street this week, including a firm in the hot cellular sector whose debut has been highly anticipated.
Nextel Partners, a unit of Nextel Communications, is looking to raise up to $423 million based on the high end of its $16 to $18 pricing range and 23.5 million shares offered. The size of the offering is more than twice the average size for new issues this year.
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"It's going to be a light calendar week with only seven offerings. But of the seven, three are going to be blockbuster deals," said Jeff Hirschkorn, senior analyst with IPO.com.
Nextel Partners will offer shares tomorrow in the wake of two recent successful public offerings by similar wireless technology firms: Alamosa and TeleCorp.
"Alamosa had a 66 percent gain on its first day of trading, and TeleCorp gained 65 percent," Hirschkorn said.
The company also has notable investors. Cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, via his Eagle River Investments, will hold an 8.2 percent stake in Nextel Partners after the IPO. The company, based on the high end of its expected share price range, will have an initial market cap of $4.3 billion.
Hirschkorn noted, however, that Nextel Partners' top rank will soon be displaced when AT&T launches a wireless tracking stock for its business this year. The tracking stock is expected to raise upward of $10 billion, according to some Wall Street analysts.
The company is expected to price today and begin trading tomorrow under the ticker "NXTP." Goldman Sachs and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette are co-lead underwriters on the deal.
Other IPOs on tap this week include Carrier1, a European firm that provides voice and data services to telecommunications companies. The firm is expected to raise up to $318.8 million based on the high end of its pricing range of $15 to $17 per share. Carrier1 plans to offer 18.8 million American Depositary Shares (ADS). Such shares are traded on U.S. exchanges for firms based abroad.
The company expects to price Thursday and trade Friday under the ticker "CONE." Morgan Stanley is the lead underwriter.
Carrier1 posted a $52 million loss on revenues of $59.8 million during the nine-month period ended Sept. 30.
Chipmaker Intersil is expected to sell 20 million shares at $18 to $20 per share and could raise as much as $400 million. The company expects to price late this week and trade under the ticker "ISIL." Credit Suisse First Boston and Salomon Smith Barney are the lead underwriters.
Some of Intersil's largest customers are networking firm 3Com, Compaq Computer and Finland's wireless giant Nokia. The company posted a $16.4 million loss on $292 million in revenue during the six-month period ended Dec. 31.