Avaya, the networking and unified communications vendor that bolstered its business with its $915 million deal to buy Nortel Networks enterprise unit,reportedly is now planning to go public again.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Avaya could file papers for a $1 billion IPO as early as this week. The report, which quoted people familiar with the matter,indicated that the IPO would be for about 20 percent of the company, which had been a public concern until it was taken private in 2007 by investment firms Silver Lake and TPG Capital.
The IPO would put Avaya’s overall value at $5 billion, and would make it the latest tech company in recent months to go the IPO route. Professional networking site LinkedIn had a wildly successful IPO last month that put the company’s value at about $8.9 billion. Online coupon vendor Groupon recently announced plans for an IPO that officials hope will bring in at least $750 million.
However, Freescale Semiconductor, which had hoped to raise $1 billion, generated only$783 million in its IPO late last month, and recently said it would borrow another $750 million.
The under writers for Avaya’s IPO are Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Barclay’s Capital and Credit Suisse Group, according to the WSJ story.
To read the original eWeek article, click here: Avaya Prepares to File for $1 Billion IPO: Report