Accenture Stock Makes Modest Debut
By
Nick Wakeman
Accenture Ltd. raised $1.67 billion with its initial public offering of stock July 19, issuing 115 million shares priced at $14.50.
Accenture Ltd. raised $1.67 billion with its initial public offering of stock July 19, issuing 115 million shares priced at $14.50.
The stock, under the ticker symbol of ACN, closed the day at $15.17, up 4.62 percent from the offering price.
Becoming a public company is the last step in Accenture's break from its former firm, Arthur Andersen, now known simply as Andersen. The two split last year after going through arbitration. As part of the split, Accenture had to change its name from Andersen Consulting.
The shares Accenture issued on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday represent about 12 percent of the company's equity. An underwriting syndicate led by joint book-running managers Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley is offering Accenture's newly issued shares.
The co-managers for the offering are Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, JP Morgan, Salomon Smith Barney, Banc of America Securities LLC, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS Warburg and ABN Amro Rothschild LLC.
The underwriters have an option to purchase up to an additional 17.25 million shares to cover over-allotments.
Accenture is the second of the consulting arms of the Big Five accounting firms to go public. KPMG Consulting Inc. had a public offering in February. The company's stock rose 30 percent on the first day of trading, rising from an offering price of $18 to $23.48. The price has since dropped and closed at $14.15 July 19.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has indicated it is planning an IPO in the future. Ernst & Young became a publicly traded company when it was purchased last year by Cap Gemini, which trades on the Paris stock exchange.
However, not all the Big Five accounting firms are planning to be publicly traded. In a swipe at Accenture, Deloitte Consulting ran a full page ad in the July 19 Wall Street Journal that said, "Deloitte Consulting is pleased not to announce an IPO."
The ad also suggested that a publicly traded consulting firm might be too focused on its own market value. The ad said: "There are clients. And there are stock analysts. To work with consultants who are focused on the former rather than the latter, talk to us."