SSA Global on last Tuesday said it plans to offer 14.3 million shares at $13-$15 each in a bid to raise up to $215 million in its initial public offering. The Chicago-based maker of Internet-based software for strategic planning, forecasting and budgeting and transactions plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker "SSAG."
But as I say to my kids "This isn't your father's SSA." In fact it barely resembles SSA of old except for the fact that BPCS is part of the porfolio of products being offered by SSAG. I remember the good old days when SSA first went public in the mid 80's....because 6 months later Roger Covey (SSA's CEO and primary founder) came to Boston's Logan Airport to buy my first company (ASE Services.) We were the largest and most successful SSA affiliate. Those were the days of boot-strap financing (no VC's to start either SSA or ASE although Roger did take $1.25 mill. from TA Associates primarily for BOD expertise to help get the IPO off). Those were also the days of 100% revenue growth - with positive cash flow and profits. What a concept! But we did it. And many ventures today could learn a few lessons from those days.
No knock on SSAG - nice job of consolidating bargain basement ventures, who couldn't sustain themselves, into this financial play. Good luck with the IPO. Hope you do at least as well as we did. But somehow it doesn't feel like it is as fun as it was when we built this once laser focused software solution company "in the old days."
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