NEW YORK-Interwave Communications International Ltd., a provider of Global System for Mobile communications network infrastructure, raised the number and price of its shares before going public on Nasdaq Jan. 28.
Through an underwriting syndicate led by Salomon Smith Barney, New York, the company sold 8.5 million shares priced at $13 each. Interwave had registered in December for a planned initial public offering of 8 million shares in the range of $8 to $10 each.
Net proceeds of the sale, which raised $110.5 million, will go toward research and development and other general corporate purposes.
Interwave said it believes it is the only company now offering commercially “a system that provides all of the infrastructure equipment and software necessary to support an entire wireless network within a single, compact enclosure.”
Nortel Networks, which owns about 20 percent of Interwave, has agreed to provide it with licenses to patented technology and technical assistance. Interwave also has 14 patents of its own and 15 additional patents pending.
Interwave markets its products through strategic relationships with several companies, including Nortel and Alcatel, which also is a minority stakeholder.
Interwave is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, and its United States headquarters is in Redwood City, Calif.
