IPOs Gearing Up, Led by John Hancock
John Hancock Financial Services (JHF), the nation’s second-largest life insurer, leads U.S. initial public offers next week with a $1.7-billion stock sale, the biggest of about 20 deals on tap as the IPO market gets going after its traditional January break.
Still, Internet companies a fraction of Hancock’s size are expected to capture the spotlight.
John Hancock’s stock is “priced attractively, it’s a very solid brand and should be received well,†said Tom Bastian, analyst at Eagle Asset Management Inc. in Florida. “But nobody wants to own financial stocks, so that part of the battle is uphill.â€
Hancock, expected to earn $2.02 a share in 2000, hopes to sell 102 million shares at $16 to $18 each.
Net-related companies, including Neoforma.com Inc. (NEOF), a medical sales Web site, and Web software developers 724 Solutions Inc. (SVNX) and Extensity Inc. (EXTN), hope to sell stock next week. A slew of Net companies are lining up to go public, hoping to mimic last year’s gains that saw Internet IPO stocks on average rise nearly fourfold through year’s end.
“The Internet is reinventing business, and there are still plenty of private Internet companies out there that want to go public,†said Doug Foreman, co-manager of the TCW Galileo Aggressive Growth Equities Fund in Los Angeles.
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