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Orbcomm prepares for $150 million IPO(Record, The (Hackensack, NJ) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) May 17--A Fort Lee company has filed to raise up to $150 million in an IPO to help expand its satellite-based data transmission business. Orbcomm owns and operates a network of 30 satellites, which help businesses and government agencies monitor and control ships, trucks, rail cars, heavy equipment, and other mobile equipment around the globe. Customers using the two-way "machine-to-machine" communications system include manufacturers such as Volvo Trucks, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., and Caterpillar, and the U.S. Coast Guard, the company said in its Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday. A former subsidiary of Orbital Sciences, Orbcomm went bankrupt in the tech bust of 2000 but got a second life in April 2001 when it was purchased by a group of investors. It now has 82 employees, 22 at its corporate offices in Fort Lee and the rest at its network control center in Virginia. The company, which moved its headquarters to Linwood Avenue near the George Washington Bridge about 19 months ago, lost about $9 million last year on revenues of about $15.5 million. But its revenues climbed quickly, from $3.3 million in 2002, according to the filing. The revenue increased as a result of a "turn-around strategy," which included lowering prices, improving features and performance, and enhancing network capabilities, the company said in its filing. Paul Nisbet, an aerospace analyst for JSA Research in Rhode Island, said that because of the bankruptcy Orbcomm has the advantage of no longer being saddled with the costs associated with launching the satellites. But he isn't convinced that investors will be interested, in part because it is a relatively small company that has not been very successful in the past. Orbcomm said in its filing, however, that it has plenty of room to expand its services, including the homeland security market. The company says its technology can be used to track location, speed and fuel economy data from trucks and locomotives, and the location and condition of trailers, rail cars and marine shipping containers. It also can be used to read energy consumption from utility meters, and to monitor corrosion in pipelines and fluid levels in oil storage tanks. The company wants to be listed on the Nasdaq with the ticker: "ORBC." |