Akamai Technologies Plans IPO After Striking Deal With Cisco
Akamai Technologies
said it plans to raise more than $86 million in an initial public offering. The provider of Internet content delivery service plans to use the offerings profits for working capital and general corporate business. Akamai said it forged a pact with
Cisco Systems
(CSCO)
earlier this month to develop new content routing and switching. Cisco bought shares of Akamai's Series E convertible preferred stock for about $49 million this month.
Morgan Stanley
,
Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette
,
Salomon Smith Barney
and
Thomas Weisel
are serving as the deal's underwriters.
In other postclose news (earnings estimates from
First Call
; earnings reported on a diluted basis unless otherwise specified):
Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures
DBT Online
said it has inked a deal to pay $25 million plus warrants to
Thomson
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for
Information America's
online public records business. DBT said the acquisition will cost the company $25 million in cash plus 329,172 DBT warrants with a strike price of $52.50 and duration of 18 months. A spokesperson for the company said that the purchase will negatively affect EPS for 1999 and 2000, but it expects revenues to increase over the long term. Separately, DBT said it has filed a 5.7 million share offering with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
.
Offerings and stock actions
Aether Systems
said it has filed a $75 million initial public offering with the SEC. The real-time data services provider promotes
Reuters MarketClip
service, which offers price quotes and news updates and
TradeRunner
, a real-time wireless trading system to online customers of
DiscoverBrokerage
. According to its red herring, Aether plans to provide similar services to
Charles Schwab
(SCH)
and other online brokers. Aether will use $12.5 million of the offering proceeds to buy
Mobeo
, a foreign exchange data provider to wireless customers.
Merrill Lynch
,
BancBoston Robertson Stephens
, DLJ and
U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray
.
Bluestone Software
filed with the SEC for a 4 million common share IPO that could rake in an estimated $55.2 million. The Sapphire/Web creator expects its offering to price between $11 to $13 a share and plans to direct its proceeds toward product development. The underwriters, led by
Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown
, were granted a 30-day option to buy an additional 600,000 shares at the offering's initial price.
Software engineering firm
Cysive
said it has filed a $60 million initial public offering with the SEC. According to its preliminary prospectus, Cysive will use the offering proceeds to help businesses sell their products through the Internet. The deal is being managed by Thomas Weisel,
First Union Capital Markets
and
Friedman Billings Ramsey
.
Miscellany
EchoStar Communications
(DISH)
unveiled plans to open its fourth customer service center in El Paso, Texas, creating 2,000 jobs and increasing its staff by 50%. The satellite television company, which currently employs 4,000 people, said it plans to hire an initial 350 inbound sales and customer service representatives for the new facility.
