Smart Technologies Inc. SMT-Q injected some life into the languishing IPO market on Thursday with one of the biggest share offerings of the year.
The Calgary-based maker of interactive whiteboards completed a $660.1-million (U.S.) initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock market and Toronto Stock Exchange. The shares listed at $17 in New York and ended the day at $17.05., after briefly touching a high of $18. About 25 million shares traded hands during the session, representing more than two-thirds the valuation of the public float, with New York activity outpacing Toronto trading volumes by approximately 10 to one.
Investor appetite follows relatively lean months for the IPO market. In the first half of the year, only 39 companies went public in the United States. During the market corrections in May and June, 15 IPOs were withdrawn or postponed, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. While the number of successful IPOs represents a 69-per-cent increase from a year earlier, it is just half the amount that went public in the first half of 2007.
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“Interim market challenges provide opportunities to reflect on the adequacy of the issuer’s readiness to enter the public equity markets and the post-IPO strategic plan,” said Scott Gehsmann, capital markets partners with PwC.
Smart Technologies, which put its IPO plans on hold 10 years ago when the tech market crashed, says it plans to diversify its revenue base beyond the education market by ramping up sales in the business and government sectors.
“We are positive about our current business results and our future opportunities,” Nancy Knowlton, president and chief executive officer, said in an interview.
The company says that only 7 per cent of global demand for electronic whiteboards is met. The devices combine characteristics of a traditional whiteboard display with a computer. By touching the surface of the product, a user can control computer applications, access the Internet, write in digital “ink,” and save and share work.
