The interactive whiteboard provider’s initial public offering (IPO) raised $660 million, on the NASDAQ Stock Market, writes David Davies. There has been considerable interest in SMART Technologies’ IPO of 38,830,000 of its Class A Subordinate Voting Shares, which began trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and Toronto Stock Exchange on 15 July at a public price of $17.00 per share.
Featuring approximately 3,100 companies, the NASDAQ is the largest electronic screen-based equity securities trading market in the US, and the fourth-largest by market capitalisation in the world.
On 16 July, NASDAQ reported that the IPO had raised $660 million, making it the exchange’s largest of the year to date. The Associated Press (22 July) said proceeds could rise to $758 million if underwriters led by Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and RBC were to purchase another 5.8 million shares from SMART’s shareholders to cover excess demand for the IPO.
SMART is currently in a quiet period and was therefore unable to respond to IE/s requests for further comment on these developments.
For NASDAQ QMX, executive vice president, corporate client group Bruce Aust commented: “NASDAQ continues to dominate IPOs in the technology sector. Of the 20 information technology companies to hold an initial public offering on a US market in 2010, 75% have chosen to list on NASDAQ. SMART Technologies is yet another example of an innovative tech company that has been inspired by what NASDAQ has to offer.”
In other news, SMART has announced the appointment of Michael J Mueller and Robert C Hagerty to its board of directors. While Mueller (pictured) spent 28 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers – most recently as global leader of private company services/middle market practice – and currently serves on the directorial board of Hydro One, Hagerty will be well-known to IE readers for his long association with Polycom that saw him serve variously as chairman, director, CEO, president and, currently, advisor. He has also worked with Stylus Assets, Logitech and Palm Inc.
