Symbian accelerates IPO plans

NASDAQ listing plan gives Psion a FTSE boost...

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Software, 19th June 2000 07:20 GMT

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Symbian is stepping up its plans for an IPO.

According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, the company has drawn up a more aggressive timetable for floating the privately held company, at the behest of its largest shareholder Psion.

The report suggests that a public offering is "expected early next year" and fingers Credit Suisse First Boston as Psion's advisors. According to the Telegraph, the Symbian partners are looking at a valuation of $5 billion for the wireless partnership, whose shareholders also include Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia.

Symbian sources recently told us that the company was looking at a NASDAQ, rather than a London FTSE listing. Given that over two thirds of Symbian's shareholders are NASDAQ-trading public companies, the company is likely to follow the example of other London-based companies, such as Micromuse, and go public in New York.

The Telegraph notes that the move could bounce Psion back into the London FTSE 100 after the recent drop in its share price value. Psion has stated that the high R&D bill for investing in Symbian continues to affect the company's profitability.

But there's also a nice side effect for the company's staff: after the recent defection of marketing chief Juha Christensen, it could make enriched Symbian staff quite a bit harder to poach... ®

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