Tonight, Verint Systems (Nasdaq: VRNT), a subsidiary of Comverse Technology (Nasdaq: CMVT), will float shares on Nasdaq. Verint will be the first Israeli company to hold an IPO in 2002 and the third since the beginning of 2001.
Two Israeli companies held IPOs on Wall Street in 2001. Verisity (Nasdaq: VRST) floated its shares in March, raising $23 million at a company value of $127 million. Verisity issued 3.3 million shares at $7 each. The issue was considered a great success under the capital market conditions of the time.
In October, Given Imaging (Nasdaq: GIVN) issued 5 million shares at $12 each, raising $60 million, reflecting a market value of $300 million. The IPO was a success, despite being held very shortly after the September 11 attack. Lehman Brothers led both Given Imaging and Verisity's successful issues.
Verint plans to issue 4.5 million shares. The company will issue 4.363 million shares and shareholders are expected to sell 137,000. The number of traded shares after the issue will be 23.4 million.
Verint plans to issue at $16-18 a share, reflecting a company value of $398 million, after money. The issue is expected to raise an estimated $76 million.
As mentioned above, Lehman Brothers is the lead underwriter. The sub-underwriters are US Bancorp Piper Jaffray, Robertson Stephens, Salomon Smith Barney and UBS Warburg.
In its prospectus, Verint reported $131.225 million in revenue and a loss of $4.64 million in 2001. The company has a staff of 800.
The issue's underwriters are relying on the fact that Verint's core business is security, which has become a hot field since September 11. In the past year, Verint has expanded its market share and the company's management has an excellent reputation.
The business intelligence and security applications provided by Verint's voice and video digital recording equipment are mostly used on standard database systems. Verint enhances them with voice and video database analyses. Verint cooperates with communications equipment suppliers such as Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT) and CRM software developers, like Siebel Systems (Nasdaq:SEBL).
Verint has also developed facial identification products that help identify criminals and terrorists in airports and bus and train stations. These products are used at many bus and train stations, mainly in the US.
Comverse Technology chairman and CEO and Verint Systems chairman Kobi Alexander owns 416,440 Verint shares; Verint president and CEO Dan Bodner owns 115,000 shares; and Verint CFO Igal Nissim owns 58,500.
Verint's prospectus states, “Demand for solutions such as ours has also been driven by the enormous growth in recent years in both the types and volume of communications. We provide our solutions to two principle markets: the digital security and surveillance market and the enterprise business intelligence market.”
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on May 15, 2002