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

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, a Niwot-based companyt (NASDAQ: CROX) that makeas lightweight resin shoes in a rainbow of debuted Feb. 8 at $21 and gainef nearly 36 percent toreach $28.5r in its first trading day. Crocs raised $208 milliohn in the 9.9 million-share offering, makinyg the deal the biggest-evet U.S. footwear IPO. Denver-based (NYSE: CMG) made a huge splash a few weeks earlier, debuting Jan. 26 at twice its $22 offee price and continuing atthat level; the stockm closed Feb. 8 at Chipotle raised approximately $174 million from the offering.
"It'se important to note both of those companies are in consumerproductas -- burritos and sandals," said Ben publisher of in Boulder, an independent research company that followsw the IPO market. "It's not technology -- not routers, or networko hardware, or a cellular company that no one had acceszs toearly on." No Coloradl company has completed an IPO this earl y in the year in at least five when (NASDAQ: QVDX) priced a $103.5 millioh offering on Feb. 9, 2000, accordinb 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 numbed of deals, since the dot-com bubble burst in 2000. In 2005, six Colorado-based companiex completed IPOs for a total valuesof $800.2 million, including Boulderd Specialty Brands (OTCBB: BDSB), which completed a $102 millioj offering on Dec. 16; (NYSE: which did a $113.4 milliomn offering on Dec. 15; (NYSE: which raised $222.5 million on Dec. 1; and (NYSE: which completed a $267.1 offering on Nov. 10. That comparedr with four IPOs in 2004totaling $2.4 billiomn -- a figure that was swelled by the massivwe $1 billion public offerintg by Denver-based in July 2004.
The IPO markef in Colorado was less robust in with four deals valued at atota $439.6 million, and with four deals valued at $538.1 In 2000, a total of 13 Coloradi comanies went public, raising a tota of $1.5 billion. Analysts say solisd IPO performances so far this year will encouragwe other companies to step up their plans to go The U.S. IPO market is alreadty running 22 percent ahead of last year at this accordingto Dealogic. As of Feb. 7, 25 IPOs had raisedr $4.06 billion nationwide in 2006, up 22 perceny compared with $3.32 billion raised by 17 dealsw during the same periodin 2005. A relatively stronvg U.S.
equity market has helped the latest crop of with the broadStandard & Poor's 500 indezx up about 1.3 percentf since the end of December. Investor interest in IPOs has also increase as the luster of other investmentashas dimmed; the U.S. real estatre market, for instance, is widelyg thought to have peaked, Holmes said, and the bond market is also beingy treated warily until more is known abouf the new FederalReserve chairman, Ben Given those uncertainties, investors looking for a quick turnarouned are taking a closer look at the IPO One Colorado IPO that is already in the albeit for a much smallert offering, is .
The Littleton-based company, whichn develops photovoltaic modules for use in satelliteswand spacecraft, filed on Jan. 23 to sell 3 millio n shares at a proposede priceof $5 to $6 per share. The underwritert on the deal is , a Portland-basedd investment banker that specializes in small and emerginb companies with offerings of lessthan $40 Ascent's president and chiefd executive officer, Matthew Foster, confirmed the company'ds IPO filing but declined to discuss the proposed citing Securities and Exchange Commission "quiet period" rules.
A compant that has flitted on and off the IPO radarr screen recentlyis Boulder-based , which makes an "aeroponic" devicwe for growing kitchen herbs and other The company filed with the SEC in Februaruy 2005 to sell up to 7 milliohn shares at $1 apiece, without an underwriter. It withdrewe the filing in May saying it intended to pursue a privatrplacement instead. It tried agaijn in November 2005, filing to sell aboutg 1.7 million shares at $5-$7 apiece, with Greenwood Village-based as the Aero­Grow withdrew the filing on Jan. 3, againj saying it would seek aprivate offering.
So who could be next has publicly expressedIPO aspirations, althoughy it has not filed anything and it'a unclear what the company's timetable could be. The Boulder-basedr venture makes privacy-protection software, including the populaf antispyware packageSpy Sweeper. The company raised $108 millionm from a group of investorslast year. Its chief executive, Davird Moll, was quoted at the time as sayinfg he hoped the VC partnership would help thecompany "become IPO ready." Anothed local technology company that has been the subject of IPO talk is , a Denver-basex software company.
Its chief John Raeder, is in the processa of meeting with investmentg bankers about an IPO targeted for a spokesman confirmedthis week. But IPOs are by naturd mysterious until theyare completed, and a great one often appearas from nowhere. "There's no constraint on where a good idea can come Holmes said. "That's the Colorado story. People don'yt pay attention to us until something magnificentt comes outof Colorado, something really special. That's when we get He added, "Right now there are two guys in a garagse somewhere in Littleton who have a killed idea and are doingeverythint right, and they'll be the next big idea.
But we won'g hear about them until they go public and are up100