MetroPCS Communications, of Dallas, has filed to raise up to $1.125 billion in an initial public offering.
It is significant because only six IPOs worth $1 billion or more were seen in 2006, out of a total of 200.
The company, which provides wireless broadband personal communication services, claims 2.6 million subscribers, and reported net income of $70.6 million on revenue of $1.1 billion in the nine months ended Sept. 30.
Backers of the company include Accel Partners (holding 11 percent), First Plaza Group Trust, M/C Venture Partners, Madison Dearborn Capital Partners and TA Associates. These guys poured in a whopping $1.1 billion over the past 12 years. However, it is Accel that will profit the most, because they invested early, and got a large ownership in the company for relatively few dollars. Notably, Accel kept investing in the company, maintaining its large stake in MetroPCS, even through the bleak economic years of 2002 and 2003. Madison Dearborn and TA invested a huge $330 million each in late 2005 at a high valuation, so they may see profits immediately.
Tags: co:MetroPCS, inv:accel-partners, inv:First-Plaza-Group-Trust, inv:TA-associates, M/C-Venture-Partenrs, Madison-Dearborn-Capital-Partners
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VentureBeat Wire » Ericsson picks up broadband services co., Entrisphere, for reported $290 million said:
[...] This is another story of the staying power of Accel Partners, which backed the company in all seven rounds of financing. It stayed with the company, even as the company restructured over the years. We recently reported how Accel did the same in the case of MetroPCS, and that paid off. This backing stands in strong contrast to some other VC behavior we’ve been reporting about lately. [...]
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VentureBeat » Accel Partners, Facebook backer, raises new fund said:
[...] low, and so generally got a large ownership stake in the companies. In the case of MetroPCS, it backed the company for 12 years, sticking with it even during the bleak years of 2002 and 2003 when many other venture groups [...]