Spreadtrum mobilizes for an IPO

Posted Jun 7th 2007 9:56AM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Morgan Stanley (MS), Lehman Br Holdings (LEH)

As seen with the IPOs of Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN) and Starent Networks (NASDAQ: STAR), Wall Street can't seem to get enough of wireless plays.

The latest IPO filing comes from Spreadtrum, which is a fabless semiconductor company. The chips help to boost multimedia and power management capabilities.

What's more, Spreadtrum has a strong presence in China. This has several advantages: access to a large pool of technical workers, a well-developed supply chain, and a fast-growing market (487.4 million wireless subscribers as of April 2007).

The company has been growing at a rapid rate. From 2003 to 2006, revenues have surged from $2.4 million to $107.1 million. In fact, the company reached profitability in the first quarter of 2006.

The lead underwriters include Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH). The proposed ticker symbol is "SPRD."

You can find the IPO filing at the SEC website.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Tags: IPO, Spreadtrum, Wireless