Marathon Deal Hamstrung

Wall Street wheeler-dealer Michael Gross is having some trouble getting his $300 million IPO for Marathon Acquisition out of the starting gate.

Shares for the so-called blank-check company were expected to begin trading on Wednesday, after pricing at $8 each late Tuesday. But sources say the initial public offering is on hold because the Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to give its official blessing.

The delay has left Gross, one of the founders of the $10 billion private equity outfit Apollo Management, spinning his wheels and raised the possibility the deal could be either postponed or scaled back. In fact, brokers say the Marathon offering is being listed by underwriters as an "open ticket" deal -- meaning brokers are the free to put as many customers as possible into the offering.

Normally, shares in an IPO are hard to come by because so many investors are looking to get their hands on them. The fact that there's no restriction on allocating the 37.5 million shares in the deal is an indication the IPO is not in much demand.

In fact, many hedge funds that have been traditional investors in blank check IPOs say they are taking a raincheck on the Marathon deal, which many believe is simply too ambitious. A broker at small investment firm that has underwritten a number of blank-check IPOs says none of his clients are interested.