IPOVIEW-Colfax IPO may lack Visa’s appeal but promising
May 2nd, 2008 | by admin |By Paritosh Bansal
NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) - Colfax Corp CFX.N, whichmakes pumps and other fluid handling products, may not have theappeal of Visa Inc (V.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for investors, but it could hold itsown in a lackluster market for initial public offerings.
Colfax, which is expected to price its offering of 18.75million shares next week, is geographically diverse and hasbeen growing steadily, making it an attractive long-terminvestment, IPO experts say.
But they add that the business lacks the “sex appeal” forinvestors to sit up and take notice in a market undermined bythe credit crisis.
The Richmond, Virginia-based company makes pumps, fluidhandling systems and specialty valves that are used in sectorssuch as oil and gas and power generation.
It sells products under some of the oldest brands in afragmented global fluid handling industry, which is populatedby more than 10,000 companies. Its Allweiler brand dates backto 1860.
“It’s a quiet, boring, fundamentally strong business,” saidBen Holmes, publisher of Morningnotes.com, an independentresearch company. “These are equipment and parts and systemsthat most people will never encounter in their lifetime, butthey make the world go round.”
EXIT FOR SHAREHOLDERS
Colfax, which will list on the New York Stock Exchangeunder the symbol “CFX,” expects its shares to price between $15and $17 per share.
