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Acquicor Technology, a “blank check” company founded by three former Apple Computer honchos, says it has raised about $150 million this week in a public stock offering.
The financing will help Acquicor get started buying Internet convergence companies, which is its stated purpose.
While open to any kind of firm, its focusing on companies specializing in Internet Protocol-based convergence. Loosely defined, the term refers to the ongoing migration of features like phone calls or television onto the Internet.
“IP-based convergence will become a major catalyst for growth opportunities in the technology, multimedia and networking sectors and will lead to the development of new, agile and integrated applications, products and services,” the company writes in its stock prospectus.
Acquicor is a “blank check” company, whose only purpose is to raise money and then invest it in other companies.
The public markets have been very friendly to such concerns. Some 47 of these kinds of firms completed initial public offerings since August 2003.
The business of buying companies is a risky venture, Acquicor says in financial records.
Its acquisition targets usually have all the makings for disaster, including small market share, narrow product line-ups and very little publicly available information about them.
The companys upper echelon has an Apple core, which is sure to help it stand out in the crowd.
Acquicors chief executive officer, Gil Amelio, is a former Apple chief executive. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is its chief technology officer, and former Apple exec Ellen Hancock is company president.