One of the most popular companies Skype S.à r.l. made its first SEC filing on Monday, presenting the company’s prospectus for its initial public offering (IPO) of American depositary shares (ADS).
The long discussed Skype’s IPO was finally initiated. Prior to the forthcoming IPO, there has been no been public market for the company’s ordinary shares, or ADSs. Thus, the company applied to have the ADSs approved for listing on The Nasdaq Global Select Market.
The public offering will be for 100,000,000 American Depositary Shares at a proposed maximum aggregate price of $5 per unit. Each unit is defined as 100 American Depositary Shares. The company plans to raise $5 million. The net proceeds from the offering will be used for general corporate purposes.
Now, the common topic for investor discussions is why the proposed maximum aggregate offering price is so low, and respectively what is the fair value of the proposed by Skype ADS.
The trading symbol for Skype has not been determined yet.
The company wants to pleasantly surprise its clients and future investors, utilizing a new approach to them. A special procedure for customer participation in the offering is planned. It refers to Skype customers willing to also become investors in the company and having a brokerage account with an eligible broker. Detailed information about the customers participation will be available in another prospectus, to be filed in the future.
Skype S.à r.l. was incorporated as a limited liability company under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in July 2010 and will be transformed into a Luxembourg joint stock company, becoming thus Skype S.A.
In November 2009, Skype was acquired from eBay by an investor group, led by Silver Lake and including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Andreessen Horowitz. In connection with the Skype Acquisition, eBay received a significant ownership stake in the company.
Skype S.A. is a global technology leader, enabling real-time communication over the Internet. During the first half of 2010, the company’s users made 95 billion minutes of voice and video calls and sent over 84 million SMS text messages using Skype.
The company has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2003. For a one-year period starting end of last June, Skype grew the number of its registered users from 397 million to 560 million.
