MandrakeSoft stands to raise about $3.7 million from its IPO,
conducted on an unregulated European market. The company started
its offering at $5.41 a share:
"MandrakeSoft has begun selling 688,480 shares at $5.41
(6.20 euros) per share on the Euronext's Marche Libre, an
unregulated market. That means the company could raise $3.7 million
in the offering, which began Thursday and runs through July 27,
according to a MandrakeSoft news release.
Though MandrakeSoft is selling a relatively large fraction of
the company, 20 percent, for a relatively small amount of funding,
the company still stands to make more than the four U.S. Linux
companies that withdrew their IPO plans. Lineo, LynuxWorks,
Linuxcare and Turbolinux all backed off from IPO plans.
MandrakeSoft, founded in 1998, has struggled to attain the
status of leading Linux seller Red Hat, which got an earlier start,
went public before investors soured on technology start-ups, and
signed partnerships with major companies such as IBM and Dell
Computer. But MandrakeSoft has attained widespread use, which
analysts say is comparable to the level enjoyed by Caldera
International, Turbolinux and SuSE."
