Telecom Infrastructure Is Hot Again
For years, communications networking has been pretty much a one-way investment bet. That is, money went into startups, but very little came back out. In recent weeks though, that’s been changing. At least three companies in the sector have gone public in the past three weeks, and others are waiting in the wings. Overall, market reception has been warm. Shares in wireless network provider Meru Networks closed up 28% in first-day trading on March 31, with shares trading in a narrow range since. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Meru which sells wireless LAN equipment, raised $66 million in a Nasdaq offering. Principle shareholders include Clearstone Venture Partners (21% stake), Vision Opportunity Master Fund (19%), NeoCarta Ventures (18%) Bluestream Ventures (16%) and D.E. Shaw (16%). Meru has raised $171 million in venture funding since 2002. Telecom equipment maker Calix Networks also posted double-digit gains in its debut a week earlier. Calix, a Petaluma, Calif.-based provider of communications access systems and software, priced its 6.3 million shares offering at $13 per share, the high end of its proposed range. The stock closed up 16% in first-day
