Meta4, the Spanish developer of web and component-based software for human resource and knowledge management, intends to follow up its planned IPO on Easdaq, the Brussels-based stock market for high-tech companies, with listings on Nasdaq and the Spanish stock exchange Bolsa.
The company’s ambition to build a global presence was spelled out by president and CEO Joaquin Moya-Ageler, who told the Financial Times that Easdaq was the starting point because for a European company but Nasdaq would follow and Meta4 wants a Bolsa quotation for sentimental reasons.
In its prospectus, published yesterday, the Madrid-based company is to offer 3.6 million shares at between 12 euros ($12.39) to 14 euros ($14.45) a share, which will value the company at up to $332m.
Founded in 1991, Meta4 now has 770 staff and says it has sold its products to 450 customers in six countries. It has a particularly strong base in Latin America. Meta4 is the first Spanish company to float on Easdaq and it could well inspire imitators in a country that has made little impact so far in IT development.
While the company has been limited to Portugal and Spanish-speaking countries, it says it has recently established sales, services and marketing organizations in France, Germany and the US and products are being developed for Brazil, Italy and Venezuela.
Meta4 says it aims to be a leading provider for global enterprises in human resources management and people and knowledge management systems. Its revenue has grown from $10.3m in 1996 to $29.2m last year, although this expansion has been costly, with a profit of $1.6m in 1996 becoming a net loss of $29.7m by last year.
Meta4 says its family of products, built on a component-based architecture, incorporates internet-native technology that allows customers to rapidly deploy applications across corporate intranets and connect with other parties via the internet. Meta4 says that by developing a web-based product integrating human resources and knowledge management capabilities, it is ready to take advantage of the shift from client/server-based systems to web-based systems.
