Financial Engines hoping to raise $160M in IPO
Portfolio manager and advisory firm Financial Engines wants to raise about $106 million in its initial public offering expected this week.
Three out of four companies priced shares within expectations last week, potentially signaling the rough start for the IPO market this year has calmed.
That would bode well for Financial Engines.
More than 60 percent of companies have sold shares for less than they had hoped this year as a volatile stock market made investors wary, according to data from IPO research firm Renaissance Capital.
Financial Engines Inc., based in Palo Alto, Calif., was founded in 1996 by Stanford finance professor and economics Nobel winner William Sharpe. The company offers investment advice for employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Services provided by the company reached as many as 7.4 million plan participants at the end of last year, the first time it turned a profit.
Financial Engines made $5.7 million in 2009, reversing its loss of $3.6 million in 2008. Sales last year grew 19 percent to $85 million from $71.3 million in 2008.
It expects to sell 10.6 million shares for between $9 to $11 each Monday night for net proceeds of about $52.2 million.
Goldman Sachs and UBS Investment Bank are the lead underwriters. Shares of Financial Engines would trade under the symbol "FNGN" on the Nasdaq Global Market.
Shares will likely begin trading Tuesday.
Copyright 2010  AP News
