LeapFrog Fetches $117 Million in IPO
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LeapFrog Enterprises Inc., a maker of educational toys backed by Michael Milken and Larry Ellison, raised $117 million Wednesday in an initial public offering.
LeapFrog sold 9 million shares at $13 each, at the bottom of the $13-to-$16 range the company had indicated. Merrill Lynch & Co. and Citigroup Inc.’s Salomon Smith Barney managed the sale.
The IPO comes amid a stock market slump that has limited sales of new equity. Four planned IPOs were pulled this week, boosting the amount of canceled sales in the last month to more than $3.1 billion. Pacific Energy Partners, an oil pipeline operator controlled by billionaire Philip Anschutz, raised $167.7 million in an IPO on Monday--as much as 10% less than planned.
LeapFrog, based in Emeryville in the Bay Area, said last month that it planned to use proceeds from the IPO for debt repayment and expansion. Knowledge Universe--controlled by Ellison, chairman and chief executive of Oracle Corp., with Milken, the former junk bond financier, and his brother Lowell Milken--owns a stake valued at $325 million to $400 million, the filing said.
LeapFrog Enterprises shares are scheduled to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker symbol LF.
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