RDA Microelectronics, a rapidly growing, China-focused designer of RF and mixed-signal chips for mobile handsets, raised $68 million by selling 7.5 million ADSs at $9, slightly below the midpoint of its proposed range of $8.50 to $10.50. The Shanghai, China-based company, which booked $134 million in revenue in the first nine months of 2010 (57% growth over 2009), is backed by investment firms Warburg Pincus and IDG Accel. The company was founded in 2004 and turned profitable in 2008. RDA Microelectronics will list on the NASDAQ on Wednesday under the symbol RDA. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse acted as lead underwriters on the deal.
RDA Microelectronics represents the 50th venture-backed IPO of 2010 and the fourth semiconductor company to go public so far this year. Prior chip IPOs from NXP Semiconductors (NXPI; down -1%), Alpha and Omega (AOSL; down -32%), and MaxLinear (MXL; down -28%) are each trading below their respective offer prices and have trailed the positive average return of all IPOs year-to-date (+21.4%) as well as the FTSE Renaissance IPO Composite Index (+12.2%) by a wide margin.
