There are several ways a company can choose to go public. However, before we discuss the choices we have to examine the company.  The first area to examine is the size of your company.  By that I mean the company’s revenues and pre-tax profits also referred to as EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).  If you have a company that has revenues in the hundreds of millions and earnings in excess of $30MM to $50MM then you can go public through a traditional IPO using a tier one underwriter such as CITI or Goldman Sachs. The average IPO in 2006 raised $217MM according to www.ipohome.com .  The end result being that you will be listed on either NASDAQ or the NYSE.

If, on the other hand, you are an emerging growth company that has an exceptional future but limited revenues and profits then you will have to take an alternate route.  You can either purchase a Pink Sheet shell which is trading on the pink sheets but is a non reporting company (no financial disclosure) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) or you can purchase a Virgin Shell – previously registered with the SEC but non trading or an OTCBB shell which is fully reporting and trading.  Each one of these choices has a different price point staring from approximately $220K to upwards of $800K, depending on your time frame and needs.  I will outline in detail each of these public vehicles in detail in my subsequent Blogs.

The best way to determine which vehicle is best for you is to hire yourself an experienced merger consultant who can guide you through the maze of options and help you procure the proper shell.  For further information please contact Ventana Capital Partners – Ralph Amato at 858-729-0075.

Bookmark to: