Web hosting company GoDaddy revealed its plans to offer 22 million Class A shares priced between $17 and $19, valuing the company at up to $2.87 billion.
Analysts note the Internet domain registrar is seeking a valuation at a relative discount to other Web-services providers.
GoDaddy coming in amidst challenging IPO market
GoDaddy’s initial public offering comes at a time when there has been a steep fall in the number of companies going public in the U.S.
The firm last planned to take itself public in 2006, though the web hosting company back-tracked citing adverse market conditions. The company’s aborted attempt came nine years after it was founded in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1997. The company filed for its IPO last June.
In a regulatory filing Thursday, GoDaddy revealed it would offer 22 million class A shares priced between $17 and $19 per share, and raise up to $418 million.
The IPO market has had a slow start this year compared with 2014, when U.S. IPOs raised about $93 billion, the highest amount since 2000.
Online data storage provider Box Inc. is one of the two technology companies that have gone public this year. In its January trading debut, Box shares jumped after raising $175 million in its initial public offering. The company’s shares were priced at $14 in the IPO, valuing it at about $2.7 billion.
GoDaddy manages about a fifth of world’s Internet domains
Despite the challenging IPO environment, IPO analysts anticipate GoDaddy to fare better than Box Inc. due to demand for stock offerings from well-established brands with steady revenue streams. GoDaddy manages about a fifth of the world’s Internet domains.
Josef Schuster, founder of IPO investment firm IPOX Schuster LLC said: “GoDaddy is a much more seasoned company than Box”.
GoDaddy is one of the bigger names in the technology IPO pipeline. Last year, online advertising company Yodle filed to go public, as did Good Technology, which offers software that facilitates secure email and smartphone apps.
The company posted $1.39 billion in revenue in 2014, a 23% jump from the prior year. Its net loss narrowed to $143.3 million over the same period, from $200 million in 2013. The web hosting company’s IPO comes more than three years after a group led by KKR. and Silver Lake Management acquired GoDaddy for $2.25 billion. After the IPO, KKR’s class A share stake will drop to 23.9% from 27.9%. However, the private equity firm will continue to hold 20.9% of GoDaddy’s class B shares.
