NYSE Goes Public

Yordanka
12 Mar, 2006
New York City

The IPO market is still not very active at the end of the Winter season. Only two companies priced shares this week and traded slightly above their initial price. Shares of NYSE gained 9% on their first day of trading and still climbing. Only one company plans to go public during the coming week.

42 initial public offerings have been priced so far this year as of Mar 10, 2006:

- 27 IPOs are currently trading above initial offering price;
- 12 are trading below the offering price;
- and 4 are trading at their offer price.

A total of two IPOs were priced during the week of March 6th, 2006. There is one deal scheduled to be priced during the coming week, hoping to raise nearly $230 million.

IPO PERFORMANCE

The New York Stock Exchange made its market debut, with shares in parent NYSE Group ((NYX)) opening at $67, which values the company at $10.6 billion. Its predecessor stock, Archipelago Holdings, ended at $64,25 on Tuesday on a consolidated basis. The NYSE has a 213-year history as a member-owned club.

NYSE shares ended the week at $74.55 per share, up 16% from the initial price.

Eagle Test Systems Inc. ((EGLT)) priced 6.1 million shares at $15.50 per share on Thursday. This price came at the midpoint of the $14 - $16 forecast. The deal was worth $100.8 milion.

Banc of America Securities and Lehman Brothers were the lead underwriters.

The company initially filed to go public in July 2004 in a bid to raise up to $167 million, before withdrawing the deal because of an industry slowdown.

In December 2005, Eagle Test Systems filed again for an IPO with maximum proceeds of $115 million.

The Buffalo Grove, Illinois-based company is a maker of devices to test semiconductor equipment.

The company’s stock closed at $15.34 per share on Friday, 2% up from the initial offering price.

Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc. ((ALXA)) priced 5.5 million shares at $8 per share on Wednesday, less than the $10 - $12 forecast. All shares are being offered by the company. The deal was worth $44 million.

The underwriters of the offering are Piper Jaffray and Pacific Growth Equities acting as joint book running managers, and RBC Capital Markets and JMP Securities, acting as co-managers.

In addition, Alexza Pharmaceuticals has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 825,000 additional shares to cover over-allotments.

Alexza is an emerging pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel, proprietary products for the treatment of acute and intermittent conditions.

The company’s shares ended the week at $8.30 per share, up 3% from the initial offering price.

IPO CALENDAR – week of March 13th

Aircraft parts designer TransDigm Group Inc. ((TDG)) plans offer 10.95 million shares within a price range of $20 - $22 per share, in a bid to raise $230 million. Insiders will offer all of the shares on the IPO. Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers will lead the group of underwriters on the deal.