NetSuite Again Boosts Expected IPO Price

Wednesday December 19, 3:24 pm ET

By Kristen A. Lee, AP Business Writer

NetSuite Boosts Expected Price Range of IPO for the 2nd Time in 2 Days

NEW YORK (AP) -- NetSuite Inc. raised the expected price range of its initial public offering for the second time in two days on Wednesday, indicating that one of the last IPOs of 2007 will also be one of the hottest.

The San Mateo, Calif.-based company, which is owned by Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison, now expects the IPO to price between $19 and $22 per share, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday,

Based on the revised price range, NetSuite would have a market capitalization of $1.13 billion to $1.31 billion.

On Tuesday, NetSuite raised the expected range to $16 and $19 per share, from the original range of $13 to $16 per share.

The offering, which totals 6.2 million common shares, is expected to price late Wednesday. NetSuite is pricing its IPO by using an auction process, in which investors bid by submitting the number of shares they would like to buy and the price they are willing to pay.

The goal of an auction is to set the IPO price closer to the shares' actual market value than the typical IPO process, which usually prices the offering at a discount -- with the hope of a pop during the first day of trading.

Analysts are divided on the implications of the latest price hike. Francis Gaskins, president of IPODesktop.com, thinks the increase reflects investor confidence that NetSuite is on a path to break even after narrowing its losses in the third quarter.

However, Scott Sweet, managing director of research firm IPO Boutique, said the price increase more likely reflects artificially high bids that are inflating the company's valuation. "People want in at any price and are now really taking a company that was in solid shape and making it a far more risky entity," he said.

Sweet said NetSuite is the immediate beneficiary of the price increase at the expense of investors.

The increased range boosts NetSuite's expected proceeds from the IPO to about $115.9 million, after fees and expenses. The estimated proceeds assume an offering price of $20.50 per share.

NetSuite plans to use the net proceeds to repay the outstanding $8 million balance on the company's secured line of credit with its controlling shareholder Tako Ventures LLC. NetSuite said it may also use some of the proceeds to make acquisitions.

Tako, which holds a 60 percent stake in the company, is controlled by Oracle's Ellison.

Ellison and his family will directly or indirectly own 66 percent of NetSuite's common stock after the IPO, although Ellison has relinquished most control over how his shares will be voted.

NetSuite sells a suite of business-management software that enables small and medium-sized businesses to manage their back-office, front-office and Web operations in a single application.

NetSuite delivers the suite to customers on a subscription basis over the Internet, which cuts down on installation and maintenance costs.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, NetSuite narrowed its loss to $20.6 million, from $27.6 million. During the same period, NetSuite increased its sales to $76.8 million from $47 million.

Credit Suisse Securities is serving as sole book-running manager for the offering. W.R. Hambrecht is acting as co-manager. E-Trade Securities and JMP Securities are also underwriting the IPO.

The underwriters have an option to buy up to 930,000 additional shares from NetSuite and a group of selling stockholders, including Chief Executive Zachary Nelson and Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Evan M. Goldberg. Goldberg, a former Oracle employee, started the company in 1998 with Ellison's help. Nelson is also a former Oracle employee.

NetSuite plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "N."