Iron Computer Corp, the Austin, Texas-based manufacturer of personal computers for hostile i.e. non office-based environments, has canceled its plans to float its shares using the internet. It seems that the harsh realities of corporate finance have forced the company to adopt a more conventional approach. Plans for the float were laid nearly a year ago, and since June this year, potential investors have been invited to subscribe on-line via a special Iron Computer Corp web site. The site contained the full listing prospectus together with an FAQ section and an electronic stock order form. The company had hoped to sell between 500,000 and 3.3 million shares at $3.00 a throw, but according to founder and chief executive, John T Opincar, significant progress has been made with Iron Computer’s products (the company has yet to actually sell any units) and, based on that progress, we have been advised that the current offering undervalues the company and its potential. In place of the radical internet-based IPO, the company has resorted to a dreary institutional private placing followed by a fully underwritten public offering once a revenue stream has been established and the potential of the company can be more accurately gauged; probably in the second quarter of next year. An underwritten offer will guarantee the company a minimum level of equity finance once an underwriter has been appointed, making it a safer route. The company has only just started taking orders for its machines, which sit in an environmentally sealed case made from composite materials. The product range will run from diskless workstations to network file servers, all running on the Intel Corp Pentium processor. Iron Computer is attempting to forge an alliance with a large personal computer manufacturer and hopes to sell its products at significantly less than current industrial or military computers.
