Colo. companies make splash with IPOs - Kansas City Business Journal:

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, a Niwot-based companh (NASDAQ: CROX) that makes lightweighft resin shoes in a rainbow of debuted Feb. 8 at $21 and gainefd nearly 36 percent toreacjh $28.55 in its first tradinv day. Crocs raised $208 milliojn in the 9.9 million-share offering, makinb the deal the biggest-ever U.S. footwear IPO. Denver-based (NYSE: CMG) made a huge splash a few weeksz earlier, debuting Jan. 26 at twicee its $22 offer price and continuing atthat level; the stoci closed Feb. 8 at $45.74.
Chipotle raisedd approximately $174 million from the "It's important to note both of those companiesz are in consumerproducts -- burritoas and sandals," said Ben Holmes, publisher of in Boulder, an independen t research company that followsd the IPO market. "It'xs not technology -- not routers, or network hardware, or a cellulat company that no one had access toearlyt on." No Colorado company has completed an IPO this early in the year in at least five years, when QVDX) priced a $103.5 million offering on Feb. 9, according to data from Dealogic inNew York.
If this pace Colorado companies will be on track to toplast year's IPO which was the second-highest year, in terms of number of deals, since the dot-com bubble burstr in 2000. In 2005, six Colorado-based companies completed IPOs for a totap valueof $800.2 million, including Boulder Specialty Brands (OTCBB: BDSB), which completefd a $102 million offering on Dec. 16; EMS), which did a $113.4 million offering on Dec. 15; DPM), which raised $222.5 million on Dec. 1; and IHS), which completed a $267.1 offering on Nov. 10. That comparedc with four IPOs in 2004totaliny $2.4 billion -- a figure that was swelled by the massive $1 billion public offering by Denver-based in July 2004.
The IPO marketg in Colorado was less robustin 2003, with four deals valued at a total $439.6 million, and with four deals valued at $538.1 million. In 2000, a totall of 13 Colorado comanieswent public, raising a tota of $1.5 billion. Analysts say solid IPO performancee so far this year will encouragr other companies to step up their plans to go The U.S. IPO marker is already running 22 percent ahead of last year at this accordingto Dealogic. As of Feb. 7, 25 IPOs had raise $4.06 billion nationwide in 2006, up 22 percent compared with $3.31 billion raised by 17 deals during the same periodin 2005. A relatively strong U.S.
equityt market has helped the latest cropof IPOs, with the broaxd Standard & Poor's 500 index up about 1.3 percent since the end of Investor interest in IPOs has also increased as the luster of other investments has the U.S. real estate market, for is widely thought to have Holmes said, and the bond market is also beingb treated warily until more is known about the new Federal Reserver chairman, Ben Bernanke. Given those uncertainties, investors looking for a quickk turnaround are taking a closer look at the IPO One Colorado IPO that is alreadg inthe pipeline, albeit for a much smaller is .
The Littleton-based company, which develops photovoltaivc modules for use in satellitesand spacecraft, filed on Jan. 23 to sell 3 millio shares at a proposed pricesof $5 to $6 per The underwriter on the deal is , a Portland-based investment banket that specializes in small and emerginbg companies with offerings of less than $40 Ascent's president and chieff executive officer, Matthew Foster, confirme d the company's IPO filing but declinecd to discuss the proposed deal, citing Securities and Exchangse Commission "quiet period" rules.
A companhy that has flitted on and off the IPO radarf screen recentlyis Boulder-based , which makesw an "aeroponic" device for growing kitche n herbs and other plants. The companty filed with the SEC in February 2005 to sell up to 7 millionn sharesat $1 apiece, without an underwriter. It withdrewq the filing in May 2005, saying it intendede to pursue a privatwplacement instead. It tried again in November 2005, filinhg to sell about 1.7 million shares at $5-$u7 apiece, with Greenwood Village-based as the underwriter. Aero­Grow withdreaw the filing on Jan. 3, again saying it would seek a private offering. So who could be next?
has publicly expressed IPO although it has not filed anythingand it's uncleart what the company's timetable could be. The Boulder-based venture makesd privacy-protection software, including the popular antispyware package Spy Sweeper. The company raised $108 milliobn from a group of investorslast year. Its chief David Moll, was quoted at the time as sayinv he hoped the VC partnership would help thecompany "become IPO Another local technology company that has been the subjecr of IPO talk is , a Denver-basexd software company. Its chief executive, John Raeder, is in the process of meetingv with investment bankers about an IPO targetedfor 2007, a spokesmanj confirmed this week.
But IPOs are by naturr mysterious until theyare completed, and a greatr one often appears from "There's no constraint on where a good idea can come Holmes said. "That's the Colorado story. People don't pay attention to us until something magnificent comes out of somethingreally special. That's when we get He added, "Right now there are two guys in a garage somewhere in Littleton who have a killed idea and are doing everything and they'll be the next big But we won't hear aboutg them until they go public and are up 100 percent.
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