Financial Engines, founded by Nobel Laureate Bill Sharpe, filed on Wednesday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. The Palo Alto, CA-based company provides technology-based independent investment advice to participants in major employer-sponsored retirement plans. It has signed contracts with more than 20% of the Fortune 500 and is currently managing more than $25 billion in client assets. The company was founded in 1996 and generated more than $11 million in EBITDA year-to-date on $59 million in sales.
Financial Engines plans to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol FNGN. Net proceeds from the IPO will be used to prepay outstanding debt ($9 million as of Sept. 30, 2009) and for general corporate purposes. Goldman Sachs and UBS Investment Bank are the lead underwriters on the deal, for which pricing terms were not disclosed. Financial Engines is the sixth company to submit its filing this week, indicating a continued recovery in levels of IPO activity.
