Herndon software firm Deltek raised $54 million in its initial public offering of stock Thursday.
The company offered 9 million shares of its stock, which began trading Thursday on Nasdaq, at $18 per share.
Six million of those were put on the market by shareholders, which Deltek does not profitfrom.
Shares, which are trading under the symbol “PROJ,” closed Thursday at $17.95, down 5 cents from the offering price.
The company operates in the enterprise software sector, creating applications to deal with firms’ special projects.
Its clients are mostly government contractors.
Deltek did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.
“They’re in a great space right now; it’s a market which is expected to grow to $6.5 billion by 2010,” said Ray Wang, a principal analyst for Forrester Research Inc. in Foster City, Calif.
“We’re looking at a shift from a product-based world to a services-based world, and you’re seeing a lot more companies looking to do what they help them do,” Wang said.
Wang said it was a good time for Deltek to go public.
“It’s about that time; they’ve done 20 or 30 acquisitions,” Wang said. “They’ve done a good job expanding their customer base.”
Going public might help the company expand internationally, he added.
The offering is expected to close Nov. 6.
The underwriters of the IPO, which are led by New York investment bank Credit Suisse Securities, have an extra 30 days to buy up to 1.35 million additional shares, the company said Thursday.
