(Cyber)security in numbers

3 June 2015 By Dominic Elliott

Cybersecurity firm Sophos has six banks selling at least $125 mln of stock. That’s an average $21 mln per firm, a light workload. Facebook’s 33 underwriters shifted far more. Perhaps only the 128 banks on Goldman’s 1999 IPO did less. But the numbers hide a broader farce.

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UK IT security firm Sophos said on June 3 that it has hired seven banks to help it raise more than $125 million in an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. Moelis is acting as financial adviser, while the other six are underwriters. Those are: JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Numis and Pacific Crest.

The total raised could end up higher: the UK requires that a company must have a free float of at least 25 percent of its stock. Majority owner Apax Partners could be seeking a valuation of more than 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion), according to a person familiar with the situation.

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