The other blessed event
Ok, it’s December and as you know it is the month we Westerners celebrate the Blessed Event so what better time to offer an IPO, especially if you are NetSuite? You might recall that the NetSuite IPO has been one of the more talked about items on the 2007 agenda and much of the talk has been around the theme: When are they going to pull the trigger?
Well, that day is here, sort of. The press release just crossed my desk that the company is starting a “modified Dutch auction” — whatever that means — to be completed on December 19th. For all the details go to www.netsuiteipo.com and you will be treated to the skinny.
Now, I don’t profess to know anything about Dutch auctions though I believe Google did something similar. Surely, guys like Credit Suisse and W.R. Hambrecht won’t have trouble selling the 6.2 million shares referenced in the PR — there are 930,000 shares available in case of over subscription.
I expect NetSuite will get snapped up at a good share price PDQ what with all the attention that on-demand and SaaS have had over the past few years (driven by salesforce.com’s roaring success). Moreover, this is not simply another IPO by a me-too on-demand player. NetSuite has a definite niche that is different from salesforce.com or RightNow or anyone else for that matter.
This company patiently built a pretty good business around on-demand back office solutions before launching its front office solution. Today it is one of a very few companies (SAP is another) that can credibly offer the market an integrated suite of front and back office solutions not to mention eCommerce.
As I have said before in other situations, I would expect the proceeds from the IPO to go to various good causes such as building another data center to mirror the first, and to step up marketing. Car dealers in the valley dealing in fine German automobiles can probably expect to see some of it too.
So there it is, the season’s other blessed event has happened. Jingle bells indeed.
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