Twelve initial public offerings will attempt to raise $5.3 billion next week, the most money sought by companies going public in one week in more than two years, according to Dealogic.
The largest deal on next week's calendar is Motorola Inc's spin-off of its semiconductor unit, Freescale Semiconductor Inc, which is slated for a $2.25 billion IPO.
Also on next week's calendar is pizza chain Domino's Pizza Inc, which is slated for a $385 million IPO; Blackridge Investment Corp, the Blackstone Group's business development company, which is on the calendar for a $650 million offering; and the pricing of LG.Philips LCD Co Ltd IPO.
The competition for investors' dollars means getting all of the IPOs to market at their estimated pricing range could be difficult, analysts said.
"There are too many deals right now, and they're too large," said David Menlow, president of IPOfinancial.com.
The Freescale deal will mark the fourth $1 billion-plus IPO listing in the United States this year, according to Dealogic.
Motorola is spinning off the unit to focus more closely on its cell-phone and other businesses, and concentrate on its battles with larger Finnish rival Nokia and several South Korean competitors in the mobile phone market.
The spin-off will create one of the world's largest semiconductor companies, serving the automotive, networking and wireless communications industries.
While the move may be positive for Motorola, it may be risky for potential investors, analysts said.
"We're going through a period where people have fear, uncertainty and doubt about the whole chip cycle, and here you are a big chip company that had a tumultuous parent company. It's not exactly a shining star they're spinning out," said David Wu, a semiconductor analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities.
The semiconductor unit accounts for about $5 billion of Motorola's $27 billion in annual revenue, but the business weighed on Motorola as it struggled to return to profitability amid the slowdown in the global chip industry.
In April Motorola's chip business posted a first-quarter operating profit of $107 million, compared with a year-ago loss of $121 million.
Since the second half of 2000, the unit has slashed its work force by about a third to 23,000 people and reduced its manufacturing facilities to nine from 22.
Freescale said the spin-off would create a more focused company able to more easily expand its customer base because it would no longer be a Motorola unit.
Freescale has filed to offer 121.6 million shares of Class A common stock, estimating it will price between $17.50 and $19.50 per share. The Class A stock gives holders one vote per share, according to regulatory filings.
Motorola will own all of Freescale's outstanding shares of Class B common stock that gives holders five votes per share. After the IPO, Motorola will have 92 percent of the voting power of Freescale's common stock.
"They (Motorola) still want their control, and that's going to be a problem for a lot of investors moving forward," Menlow said.
Goldman, Sachs & Co, Citigroup and JP Morgan are lead underwriters on the deal, according to regulatory filings.
Meanwhile, Domino's Pizza has filed to offer 24.1 million shares at an estimated price of $15 to $17 per share. The pizza chain operates more than 7,450 take-out and delivery stores, including franchises, in the United States and more than 50 countries.
JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bear, Stearns & Co Inc, Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers are underwriting the deal.
And Blackridge Investment Corp will become the latest private equity fund to attempt to make its debut on the public markets after Porticoes Capital Corp this past week delayed the pricing of its IPO.
If Porticoes had made it to market, it would ended a three-month hiatus since the last business development company, Apollo Investment Corp, made its public debut.
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