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Summarized by Kent Larsen
LDS Entrepreneur's Company To Go Public Next Month
Montreal Canada Gazette 22Jun00 B2
By Andy Georgiades
MONTREAL CANADA -- LDS entrepreneur David Huber's company, Corvis
Corp., is expected to go public next month, in one of the most
anticipated IPOs of the summer. Recent company filings with the US
Securities and Exchange Commission say that the company will offer
27.5 million shares for between $13 and $15 a share, valuing the
company at more than $4 billion.
Huber is known as an optical networking guru, who founded Ciena
Corp., which is considered an innovator in the field. Huber left
Ciena soon after the company went public after a falling-out with the
company's board of directors. He then founded Corvis, and says he has
developed an all-fiber network that should, he says, cut the cost of
running a network by 75%.
Part of the fuel for the interest in Corvis' IPO is a pair of
two-year deals it has signed. Both Broadwing Communications and
Williams Communications have agreed to pay $200 million each for
Corvis products. Like many high-tech start ups, Corvis so far has no
revenue.
Evidence of the interest in Corvis can be seen by the recent run-up
in the stock of Canadian company Roctest, which following the IPO
will own 1.3 million shares of Corvis from the sale of Kromafibre to
Corvis in July 1999. Recently, Roctest's stock price has more than
quadrupled from $3.50 a share to $15.25, even though its
first-quarter earnings were disappointing and the market for its
products is slow. Canaccord Capital Corp. analyst Simon Simonian says
that Roctest is giving investors a chance to participate in Corvis
before the IPO. "People are buying Roctest as a way to have an upside
from Corvis," he said.
See also:
LDS Inventor's secretive venture could change the way networks work
Mormon News 15Nov99 B2
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