"Everything in wireless now is about as hot a Wireless category heating up
Six firms waiting in wings amid sector hype
By Steve Gelsi, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 11:29 AM ET May 6, 2000
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NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- With the market for initial public offerings at a lull, investors are eyeing wireless as the next big sector.
Six deals are on the IPO radar screen for now. So far this year, seven wireless stocks have debuted.
"Everything in wireless now is about as hot as you can possibly get,"
said Graham Anderson, a venture capitalist with Euclid Partners.
Vindigo
One wireless firm making the rounds at the
New York New Media Organization's Venture
Downtown conference this week was Vindigo.
The New York-based company just won its first
round of venture financing. The $9 million
investment came from General Atlantic
Partners and Flatiron Partners.
The start-up drew a big crowd as it showed off software that enables
Palm and other devices to search for entertainment, restaurants and
other listings wherever a user happens to be in select cities.
Vindigo is just one example of a bevy of wireless-oriented firms
causing a ripple in the venture community and, ultimately, the market
for initial public offerings.
Bandwagon
IPO investors are always looking for a hot bandwagon to jump on as
they play with new sectors like freshly opened toys. But inevitably
they get bored and move on when too many IPOs try to join a
sector's party.
One of many examples is the online mortgage category, which
heated up last year with E-Loan (eeln) and others, only to turn
ice-cold. See Long View column.
Other victims of the "first-it's-hot-now-it's-not" fate include
e-commerce, business-to-business Internet firms, online exchanges
and Linux players.
Now it's wireless' turn. It's again hot after a run-up in the early '90s
with the growth of cellular technology.
Now in the digital age, investors are pumped up about the sector's
growing role on the Internet.
So far this year, most wireless-flavored IPOs have been successful,
starting with the mother of all deals: the $10.6 billion IPO from AT&T
Wireless (awe). The largest IPO in U.S. history debuted April 27 at a
price of $29.50.
But not all of the wireless deals have been hits.
Year 2000's wireless IPOs
Company
Debut
IPO price
% move (as of 5/4)
AT&T Wireless (awe)
4/27
$29.50
+4
I3 Mobile (iiim)
4/6
$16
-13
Vyyo (vyyo)
4/5
$13.50
+55
Breeze.com (brze)
3/23
$20
+34
Nextel Partners (nxtp)
2/23
$20
+1
Dobson (dcel)
2/4
$22
+19
Alamosa PCS (apcs)
2/3
$17
+55
Sources: CommScan Analytics, Ostman.com
Here are six upcoming wireless deals tracked by CommScan
Analytics.
Upcoming deals
Company
Price
Size of deal
Bell South Latin America (bls.l)
N/A
$1 billion
IPCS (Illinois PCS) (ipcs)
$13-15
$144 million
Telecommunication Systems (tsys)
N/A
$115 million
Western Multiplex (wmux)
N/A
$115 million
Airspan Networks (airn)
N/A
$65 million
U.S. Unwired (unwr)
$13-15
$138 million
Steve Gelsi is a reporter for CBS MarketWatch.
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