Radio Systems Ends Efforts to Go Public

Radio Systems Corp., maker of electronic pet fences and bark-control collars, ended its three-year effort to go public in a market dogged by low investor demand for new stocks.

Radio Systems, based in Knoxville, Tenn., first filed for an initial public offering in November 1997. Its last filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, before Tuesday, was a February 1998 submission setting terms for the sale. New investors were offered 31% of the company for $17.9 million to $21.7 million.

“The company elected not to proceed with the offering due to general market conditions and a determination that it would not have been in the company’s best interest to proceed,” Radio Systems said in its SEC filing.

The market for first-time equity offering has all but dried up this year as investors’ appetite for new issues has fallen along with the stock market.

Officials at the company and at J.C. Bradford & Co., the investment bank listed as managing the sale, couldn’t be reached for comment.

The company’s microchip-controlled collars deliver a mild shock if a pet--described as “fuzzy friends” in past regulatory filings--tries to wander beyond a “radio fence.” Its other electronic training aids include a collar that can discipline a barking canine.