Kayak Sets Initial Range for IPO

Online travel company Kayak.com said that it expects to sell 3.5 million shares between $22 and $25 apiece in its initial public offering. The company is backed by private equity investors, including General Catalyst Partners, Sequoia Capital, Accel Funds, and Oak Investment Partners. At the high end of its pricing range, the company could be valued at $964 million. Kayak.com will be listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol KYAK. Underwriters in the deal include Morgan Stanley MS and Deutsche Bank DB. Technology IPOs have largely not fared well over the last year, with companies such as Facebook FB, Groupon GRPN, and Zynga ZNGA all seeing their share prices drop sharply from their IPO price. Alternatively, however, online travel companies such as Expedia EXPE and its spin-off, TripAdvisor TRIP have seen their share prices soar in 2012. EXPE shares have jumped more than 63% on the year and TRIP is up more than 81% during the same time period.