8 August 2012

Peregrine raises $77m in IPO

Peregrine Semiconductor Corp of San Diego, CA, USA, a fabless provider of radio-frequency (RF) integrated circuits (ICs) based on silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) founded in 1990, has raised $77m in its initial public offering (IPO) of 5,500,000 shares of common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market (under the ticker symbol PSMI) priced at $14 per share (the low end of the targeted range of $14-16). 

Of the shares offered, 5,340,780 were offered by Peregrine and 159,220 shares by selling stockholders (eight employees of the firm). The firm is not receiving any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.

Peregrine has also granted the underwriters (led by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, together with RBC Capital Markets LLC, Needham & Company LLC, Oppenheimer & Co Inc, and Pacific Crest Securities LLC) a 30-day option to purchase up to 825,000 additional shares. If exercised in full, this would raise a further $11.6m.

The firm intends to use net proceeds for working capital and other general corporate purposes, e.g. funding growth; developing new products; asserting and defending intellectual property rights; and funding capital expenditures. It may also repay its loan facility with Silicon Valley Bank or expand its current business through acquisitions of other businesses, products, or technologies. The loan facility provides a revolving line of credit as well as an equipment line.

Peregrine originally filed an IPO prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in November 2010, pointing out several risks for its business, including a reliance on a few large customers for most of its revenue. In 2011, 68% of sales came from its three largest customers.

Since 2006, Peregrine has shipped more than 1 billion RF chips based on UltraCMOS, which is a patented variation of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology that incorporates an ultra-thin layer of silicon on a highly insulating sapphire substrate. Revenue grew 18% from $91.1m in 2010 to $107.8m in 2011, although the firm also went from net income of $3.8m to a net loss of $9.7m. However, for first-half 2012, revenue has grown to $80.3m while net loss has been cut to $3.1m. As of end-June, accumulated deficit was $231.3m.

Tags: Peregrine Semiconductor

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