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IT OCZ Technology IPO Details
Sven Olsen (Blog) - June 6, 2006 7:04 PM
Print 10 comment(s) - last by drewintheav.. on Jun 7 at 3:12 PM
OCZ joins the ranks of publicly traded computer companies

Several weeks ago, we mentioned that OCZ Technologies had taken steps to go public on the AIM stock exchange in London. Several investment firms in London have confirmed to DailyTech that the initial public offering is expected to occur in approximately two weeks as the company has officially filed the paperwork with the British government. 

The company filing claims that OCZ will offer approximately 40 million shares of stock at 0.65 British Pounds (about $1.25 USD) per share.  OCZ partners claim the company is planning to buy a new research and development center in Taiwan and use the remaining capital to broker better deals with memory manufacturer suppliers.  OCZ, like many other US memory companies, relies on distributors and spot market brokers to negotiate memory sales and as a result currently must pay high premiums for brokers to purchase memory rather than buying from Samsung or Hynix directly.

According to British press, the company has repeatedly stated the additional capital not tied up in opening new facilities or memory purchasing will be used for "aggressive acquisition targets."  OCZ spokesmen declined to comment for DailyTech.

After the US Sarbanes-Oxely Act of 2002 (SOX as it's commonly called), smaller technology companies have have opted for IPOs outside of the US.  As a publically traded company outside of the US, OCZ will not have to follow the US SEC regulations -- which can be a bit of a blessing or a curse.  Without SOX, the company does not have to spend as much money on corporate auditing, which saves the company money in the long run.  On the other side of the coin, the United Kingdom does not have the same level of corporate accountability required by the US SEC -- meaning companies that file on the London Stock Exchange are potentially riskier to invest in.

OCZ currently has offices in the Netherlands, San Jose and Canada. OCZ is also an advertiser for DailyTech.com.

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Only in Great Britain?
By Assimilator87 on 6/7/2006 12:14:15 AM , Rating: 2
Does OCZ have stocks in a U.S. market?




RE: Only in Great Britain?
By AMDfreak on 6/7/2006 1:27:04 AM , Rating: 2
OCZ is not yet publicly traded anywhere, so no, there are no and for now will be no US stocks. However, if anyone can give details on how to invest in the UK stocks I'm sure there will be interest.


RE: Only in Great Britain?
By Tim Thorpe on 6/7/2006 3:50:11 AM , Rating: 2
Major brokerage firms have the ability to trade on international markets including markets in the UK. Just because you don’t reside in the same country as the market doesn’t mean you can’t participate in that market.


RE: Only in Great Britain?
By Tim Thorpe on 6/7/2006 3:52:55 AM , Rating: 2
Whoops, hit enter too fast. Anyway to close, all you need to do is call your broker and they will be able to make the purchase for you.



RE: Only in Great Britain?
By hwhacker on 6/7/2006 4:45:12 AM , Rating: 2
My question is...Who is OCZ looking to acquire?

G.Skill? Team Group?

It seems to me they are the two would be the most likely, as they share the same market while OCZ is larger than them both. Only other guesses I have are PDP (Patriot) and PQI.

If they did do that, that surely would help OCZ overall, but would hurt competition. That'd leave essentially what...Corsair, Mushkin, and Crucial?

I hope the memory distributors start all merging, although I could certainly see it happening.


RE: Only in Great Britain?
By hwhacker on 6/7/2006 4:52:03 AM , Rating: 2
^ I hope they don't start merging. My mistake.


mistake..........
By Serlant on 6/6/2006 8:42:51 PM , Rating: 2
"repeatedly stated the the additional capital not"
should be? "repeatedly stated that the additional capital not"




Where?
By Trisped on 6/7/2006 12:22:49 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
San Jose
As in San Jose California? All the other locations are countries, but this one is just a city.




AIM
By gramboh on 6/7/2006 12:55:33 PM , Rating: 2
AIM is a large market that is very liquid and easy to access, your broker should be able to help you. Many tech companies use AIM because the SEC has ridicolous reporting requirements (e.g. SoX 404 internal controls, which I am working on right now ironically). These reporting requirements can cost $1M+ a year in combined external audit and internal work required.




Vaporware?
By drewintheav on 6/7/2006 3:12:56 PM , Rating: 2
Whatever happened to the OCZ phase change cpu cooling system,the Cryo-z? Did it become vaporware? Did they get distracted by all of this IPO business? :)




"There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere." -- Isaac Asimov

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