ShoreTel has announced pricing for its initial public offering of stock, moving ahead with its plans to go public despite a patent dispute with VoIP competitor Mitel.
ShoreTel announced on Tuesday it will offer 7.9 million shares at US$9.50 each, for a target total of US$75.05 million. That’s down from the US$10.50 the stock was expected to start at when it was originally expected to go on sale last Thursday.
But it still falls in the range of US$8.50 to US$9.50 the company said it would shoot for last month.
The company also authorized a 30-day option for underwriters to buy an additional 1.185 million, garnering US$11.26 more. That would represent slightly more than the previous US$82.9 million the company said it wanted to raise.
ShoreTel partners say they hope the money will be spent on product development and sales. Industry observers say they wouldn’t be surprised if some of the cash were used for acquisitions of other companies.
ShoreTel pulled back on its IPO last week after competitor Mitel launched a lawsuit contending that ShoreTel had infringed four Mitel patents. The patents cover a range of technology from a broadly defined LAN-based VoIP system to management tools that can be used for VoIP.
The stock offering is being managed by Lehman Brothers, J. P. Morgan Securities, Piper Jaffray & Co., JMP Securities and Wabush Morgan Securities.
Meanwhile, Mitel is jockeying to buy Inter-Tel for US$723 million. A vote on the deal by Inter-Tel stockholders is scheduled for July 23.
