Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

Palo Alto Networks to Raise $264 Million in IPO

On what’s turning out to be a big day for tech IPOs, software security outfit Palo Alto Networks set the price range of its forthcoming offering of 6.2 million shares at $34 to $37. The offering, reported in an updated S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, would raise about $264 million.

The company sells a firewall that provides security while at the same time allowing the constantly growing number of new applications to run on corporate networks. For the year ended 2011, it reported a net loss of $12.5 million on sales of $118.6 million. But it’s been profitable this year so far: For the first nine months of 2012, Palo Alto reported a $5.3 million profit on $180 million in sales. That would work out to a per-share profit of 10 cents, or nine cents on a fully diluted basis.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are the lead underwriters on the offering. Major shareholders include Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital, both of which own equal stakes of 13.8 million shares, worth $510 million, assuming a $37 share price. Their shares in the company amount to a combined 41.4 percent of the equity in the company. Globespan Capital Partners has a stake of 4.9 million shares, worth $182 million. Founder and CTO Nir Zuk has 3.8 million shares, worth almost $142 million.

Palo Alto will trade under the ticker symbol PANW on the New York Stock Exchange.

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