It’s not the 1990s, but 2006 is shaping up to be Orange County’s busiest for initial public offerings since the dot-com bust.
At least eight companies could go public this year based on regulatory filings and the handful that already have had an IPO.
The caveat: Most of the offerings are small compared to those last decade, while others are non-traditional offerings by banks. Another company is going public via a reverse merger.
But the activity is in contrast to the past few years. Just four companies debuted on the public markets last year. That’s down from five in 2004. Only two went public in 2003. The highest recent total was nine in 2000.
The busiest year in the past decade was 1996, when 24 OC companies went public. 1999 saw 14 companies go public.
A strong economy and decent stock market returns could be fueling local IPO activity. Nationally, the number of stock debuts is up 21% to 57 this year, according to Renaissance Capital LLC’s IPOHome.com.
Late April saw OC’s fourth public offering of the year: Irvine-based American Mold Guard Inc.
American Mold raised about $17.6 million in its offering of 1.35 million shares. The company, which priced its shares at $13 in the offering, was trading at $13.40 at recent check, giving it a market value of $57 million.
American Mold is selling mold prevention services to homebuilders. The company is targeting the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast region for growth.
The company has 119 workers at 11 service centers in California, Texas, Louisiana and Florida.
American Mold posted a loss of $5.9 million on revenue of $5.8 million last year.
Two banks and a technology company also have gone public this year. Four more have plans to hold offerings during 2006.
Westminster-based Saigon National Bank, which began trading on Nasdaq’s Over the Counter exchange in late January, earlier opened its doors in Little Saigon to serve the Vietnamese-American and Hispanic communities.
Saigon National raised $14 million in startup funds before going public. Its market value is $16.3 million.
Irvine’s Plaza Bank, which opened in late December, debuted on Nasdaq in early April. It raised $15 million in startup funds. Its market value is $19.5 million.
The biggest offering this year was in March when Newport Beach-based Acquicor Technology Inc. raised $150 million.
The company’s shares were priced at $6 in the offering. The company’s stock was trading at $7.35 at recent check, giving it a market value of about $226 million.
Three former Apple Computer Inc. executives,cofounder Steve Wozniak, former chief executive Gilbert Amelio and Ellen Hancock, Apple’s technology chief under Amelio,founded Acquicor last year.
The “blank check” company was created for the sole purpose of finding a technology company to ac-quire, which Acqui-cor still is searching for.
Several companies recently filed plans with the Securities Exchange Commis-sion to go public.
The biggest is Newport Beach-based Jazz Semiconductor Inc., which said last month it hopes to raise $105 million in its initial public offering.
It’s the second bid to go public for the contract chipmaker, a spinoff of Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. Jazz had filed about two years ago to raise $150 million, but pulled those plans to wait out weak market conditions during the past couple of years.
Alsius Corp., an Irvine-based medical device maker, recently filed plans for an IPO in hopes of raising up to $40 million. The company, which makes catheters and body temperature monitors, plans to use the funds for sales and marketing, manufacturing, research and development and other general purposes.
Fortis Business Bank, a proposed Santa Ana business that would become OC’s first Hispanic-oriented bank, plans to go public in the fall.
Fortis, which is seeking regulatory approvals to organize, is looking to raise $12 million to $15 million in startup funds before going public.
Irvine-based US Modular Corp., which sells memory products, is set to go public via a reverse merger during the next month. It is buying a shell company to get on Nasdaq’s Over the Counter exchange.
US Modular is on track to post about $40 million in sales this year.
Back during the dot-com boom, startups raised more money in their IPOs. Their market values were much higher, too,a product in many cases of the overheated stock markets that were poised to decline earlier this decade.
Irvine-based Broad-com Corp. raised $84 million in its 1998 stock debut. The chipmaker’s market value was about $2.4 billion after the first day of trading.
Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com Inc. raised $182 million in its 2000 offering. The company’s market value hit $3 billion before crashing. Founder Scott Blum eventually took the online retailer private again.
In another twist for the company, Buy.com shelved a return to the public markets last year. The company hoped to raise $50 million in its offering, but didn’t attract enough interest to go public.
Costa Mesa-based Anna’s Linens Inc., which hoped to expand its retail chain with a $69 million stock offering, also pulled its plans.
Last year saw only two traditional IPOs: Irvine-based subprime lender ECC Capital Corp. and Costa Mesa-based apparel maker Volcom Inc. Two banks, First Vietnamese American Bank in Westminster and MetroPacific Bank in Irvine, also saw their shares listed on the Over the Counter exchange.
Volcom, a maker of surf, skate and snowboard gear, had a blockbuster stock offering that ranked among the best nationally in 2005. Volcom raised $89 million in its offering.
The hip apparel maker saw its shares surge from an offering price of $19 a share to $37.80 at recent check, giving it a market value of $915 million.
ECC Capital, a real estate investment trust that makes and invests in subprime mortgage loans, has gone in the opposite direction on Wall Street since going public in early 2005.
The company, which raised $354 million in its IPO, has cut more than 600 workers this year amid the stalled housing market.
The company’s shares, which were priced at $6.75 in its stock offering, were trading at $1.38 at recent check, giving it a market value of $138 million.
Other companies worth watching as potential IPO candidates include French heart valve developer CoreValve Inc., which is switching its headquarters from Paris to Irvine with an eye toward raising money to fund the development of its product.
The prospect of a public offering “is definitely the underlying reason why we have done the flip-flop and become a U.S. corporation so that door could be open to us,” said Rob Michiels, CoreValve’s chief operating officer and president.
Another is Aliso Viejo-based Eyeonics Inc., which makes replacement eye lenses for cataract patients. The company’s Chief Financial Officer Steve Naber said in January that it is considering an initial public offering in the second half of the year.
Eyeonics raised $16.5 million in a fourth round of venture funding early this year. n
