The final deal last summer was Tudou Holdings (TUDO), an online video company in China. It was a train wreck.
On Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2011, Tudou priced its IPO of 6 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) at $29 each. It closed its opening day at $25.56, DOWN 11.8 percent from its initial offering price. It closed the week at $19.24, DOWN 33.7 percent from its offering price. That didn’t leave them laughing at the corner of Broad and Wall Streets.
Since its stumbling start in August, Tudou’s ADS sold as low as $9.50 on Jan. 9, 2012; as high as $44.88 on March 13, and closed on Friday, July 27, at $28.09.
The IPO handicappers believe this week will be better than the year-ago August finale.
There are a couple of deals on the calendar that are said to be on somebody’s “most wanted list.” They are Eloqua Limited (ELOQ – proposed) and LegalZoom.com (LGZ – proposed).
A Yardstick for Revenue
Eloqua plans to price 8 million shares at $9.50 to $11.50 each on Wednesday evening. The IPO is expected to start trading on Thursday morning on the NASDAQ Global Market under the proposed symbol “ELOQ.” The joint-lead managers are J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank Securities. The co-managers are JMP Securities, Needham and Pacific Crest Securities.
Based in Vienna, Virginia, Eloqua is a provider of on-demand Revenue Performance Management software solutions. The company’s products enable businesses to accelerate revenue growth and improve revenue predictability by automating, monitoring and measuring their marketing and sales initiatives. The company’s customers have included
,
, Sybase
and others. Eloqua has sales partnerships with Omniture
,
. The company, formed in 2000, has about 370 employees.
,
, Sybase
and others. Eloqua has sales partnerships with Omniture
,
. The company, formed in 2000, has about 370 employees.
Eloqua plans to sell 7 million shares and selling shareholders plan to sell 1 million shares. The company expects to have about 32 million shares outstanding after the offering.
Note: There are 18 pages of Risk Factors listed in Eloqua’s prospectus. Among them are:
“We have a history of losses and may not achieve consistent profitability in the future.
“Economic uncertainties or downturns in the general economy or the industries in which our customers operate could disproportionately affect the demand for our solutions and negatively impact our results of operations.
“We have experienced rapid growth in recent periods and our recent growth rates may not be indicative of our future growth.”
Getting Legal Advice Online
LegalZoom.com plans to price 8 million shares at $10 to $12 each on Thursday evening. The IPO is expected to start trading on Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed symbol “LGZ.” The joint-lead managers are Morgan Stanley and BofA Merrill Lynch. The co-managers are Stifel Nicolaus Weisel, William Blair, RBC Capital Markets and Montgomery.
Based in Glendale, California, LegalZoom.com is an online provider of services for the legal needs of small businesses and consumers. The company believes it has provided services to about 2 million customers over the last 10 years. In 2011, more than 20 percent of new California limited liability companies were formed used LegalZoom.com’s online legal platform. LegalZoom.com was formed in 1999. It has about 521 employees.
LegalZoom.com plans to sell 3.8 million shares and selling shareholders plan to sell 4.2 million shares. The company expects to have about 40.3 million shares outstanding after the offering.
Note: There are 15 pages of Risk Factors listed in LegalZoom.com’s prospectus. Among them are:
“Our business and services subject us to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding the unauthorized practice of law, or UPL, legal document processing and preparation, legal plans, privacy and other matters. These laws and regulations may result in claims, changes to or discontinuance of some of our services, potential liabilities or additional costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and future prospects.
“If we fail to provide high quality services, customer care and customer experience and add new services that meet our customers’ expectations, we may not be able to attract and retain customers.
“Our business model is evolving from a transaction model to a combined transaction and subscription model. If a sufficient number of our existing and new customers do not become subscribers, our business, revenues, results of operations and future prospects would be adversely affected.”
Next week’s headliner is Bloomin’ Brands (BLMN – proposed) – the parent of the Outback chain – so we’ll put a steak on the barbie for you.
Stay tuned.
Disclosure: Neither the author nor anyone else on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The author and IPOScoop.com staff do not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.