CPK to Debut at $15 as SpeechWorks Roars
L.A.-based California Pizza Kitchen Inc. got a good reception for its initial public offering on Tuesday, as it sold 5.3 million shares at $15 each.
That was the top of the price $13-to-$15 price range the company had hoped to get. The stock will begin trading today on Nasdaq under the symbol CPKI.
The company, which has 83 full service CPK restaurants and 24 CPK ASAP locations in the United States and three foreign countries, plans to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay bank debt, make a payment due on the automatic conversion of outstanding preferred stock, and for other general corporate purposes.
The company, once a part of PepsiCo Inc., was founded in 1985 by Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax.
Meanwhile, CPK’s insiders may be hoping for the kind of first-trading-day reception that shares of SpeechWorks International (SPWX) got on Tuesday.
Boston-based SpeechWorks, which develops speech-recognition software, saw its shares rocket $36.75 to $56.75 in their trading debut on Nasdaq. The company on Monday sold 4.75 million shares at $20 a share.
Though the company still is losing money, its customers include such giants as BellSouth, Worldcom, E-Trade and United Airlines.
Telecommunications providers have already designed voice recognition applications using SpeechWorks’ products that can understand such phrases as, “Call Mary Thompson at home,” and “Forward this message to Joe Smith.”
“Speech recognition is not a new idea, but there are a number of factors out there that are creating an explosive market opportunity,” said Katherin Egbert, analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners.
