ONI Systems Shares Triple in Public Offering

ONI Systems Corp. picked a good day for its initial public offering, but it might have gone well on any day.

Amid the broad rebound in tech issues Thursday, ONI’s shares (ONIS) rocketed from their offering price of $25 to close at $82.56 on Nasdaq.

Investors’ appetite for the fiber-optic equipment maker was so robust before the offering that ONI and its banker, Goldman, Sachs & Co., increased the size of the deal by 56%.

ONI, which raised $200 million in the sale, is in one of the few industries attracting investor demand. Another fiber-optics firm, New Focus Inc. (NUFO), sold stock two weeks ago, raising 25% more than planned. Its shares have more than tripled since, rising from $20 at the offering to a new high of $71 in intraday trading Thursday, before easing to $61.

Helping fuel demand, San Jose-based ONI sold just a 7% stake, or 8 million shares of the 123 million shares outstanding. Companies usually sell twice that much.

But interest in other IPOs remains scant. Of the six companies planning to sell stock this week, four reduced their offerings, some by as much as one-third.

ONI and New Focus are the only companies since mid-April to increase their asking price for stock, then sell shares above that range.

ONI and New Focus are benefiting as companies worldwide expand their fiber-optic networks, which transmit data faster over their copper phone lines, to meet surging use of the Internet.