On a day that the Nasdaq lost 200 points, FairMarket saw its initial
offering get more than a fair amount of interest. It jumped 176 percent from its $17 opening to 47 by the end of the day. By Friday, it stood at 42-7/8.
Speaking of investors, Microsoft owns 18 percent of FairMarket (FAIM), which has
an online auction on a central system for about 100 companies. Excite@Home
and Ticketmaster Online-City Search have also invested in FairMarket.
Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown was the lead underwriter.
Also on Tuesday, Lastminute (LMIN) raised $198 million on its offering,
when it closed up 6 at 36. By week’s end, it had settled at 30-7/8.
Lastminute, a London-based online travel and shopping site, services
consumers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Sweden.
The lead underwriter was Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.
Loudeye Technologies (LOUD) was resounding on its offering on Wednesday as
its shares went from 16 to 40, a 150 percent increase. This gave Loudeye a
market capitalization of nearly $1.4 billion. By Friday, it held at 41-3/8.
The Seattle-based Loudeye Technologies helps bring music and video to the
Internet – which is a tough thing to do because of existing bandwidth
constraints. Their applications convert songs, pictures and video from
tape or film into digital formats so they can be posted on a Web site.
Loudeye’s backers include Microsoft, America Online, and NBC.
The lead underwriter was Robertson Stephens.
Foreign IPOs have been hot. Taking advantage of this trend, on Wednesday,
Sunday Communications (SDAY) saw its IPO rise nearly 50 percent to 20-3/4. But investors quickly had second thoughts and by the end of the week,
Sunday Communications was knocked down to 12-11/16.
Based in Hong Kong, Sunday Communications is a mobile phone operator and
Internet services provider. It also supplies music delivery, dating, and
banking services.
Credit Suisse First Boston was the lead underwriter.
Chicago-based Universal Access (UAXS) had a green Saint Patrick’s day when
its $14 opening climbed 164 percent to 37 on Friday. While the company buys
and sells unused network capacity, it also provides network services to more than 75 clients, including GTE Internetworking, IDT, and Teleglobe Communications.
Goldman, Sachs was the lead underwriter.
