Velti files to raise $200M for IPO on NASDAQ
Mobile marketing and advertising technology provider Velti has filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering of its ordinary shares.
Jefferies & Company Inc. is to be the sole book-running manager for the offering with RBC Capital Markets Corp. and Needham & Company LLC acting as co-lead managers, and ThinkEquity LLC and Cannacord Genuity acting as co-managers.
"We believe our integrated, easy-to-use, end-to-end platform is the most extensive mobile marketing and advertising campaign management platform in the industry," said Velti in the F-1 form filed with the SEC. "Our platform further enables brands, advertising agencies, mobile operators and media companies to plan, execute, monitor and measure mobile marketing and advertising campaigns in real time throughout the campaign lifecycle.
"We deliver our software-as-a-service, or SaaS, platform either on a stand-alone, self-service basis or as a managed service," the filing says. "In January 2010 we released an enhanced version of our platform, Velti mGage, which provides a one-stop-shop where our customers may plan marketing and advertising campaigns.
"They also can select advertising inventory, manage media buys, create mobile applications, Web sites, build mobile CRM campaigns and track performance across their entire campaign in real-time."
The filing says that Velti's annual revenue has grown to $90 million for the year ended December 31, 2009, a year-over-year increase of 45 percent from $62.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2008.
Velti executives familiar with the matter are away travelling and were not available for comment. Calls to the company?s marketing department, which deals with media inquiries, were not returned in time for press.
The ordinary shares to be sold in this offering are proposed to be sold by Velti plc and some of its shareholders.
The number of ordinary shares to be sold in the proposed offering and the offering price have not yet been determined.
Velti plans to use the net proceeds from the proposed offering to repay all of its outstanding indebtedness and to fund its strategic plan for global expansion.
Additionally, the company plans to make further investments and acquisitions to enhance and broaden its technology services, including its introduced mGage platform.
A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the SEC but has not become effective as of yet.
The securities may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective.
This release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities, in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus.
Velti has been trading on the AIM stock exchange in London for four years. The company said it expects to trade under the symbol VELT on the NASDAQ stock market.
"Our objective is to be the leading global provider of mobile marketing and advertising solutions across multiple media. We intend to make it easier and more cost effective for brands, advertising agencies, mobile operators and media companies to take advantage of the unique benefits of mobile marketing and advertising campaigns, thereby further facilitating the growth in this market," the Velti F-1 filing says.