Bridgewater gets done

Despite a difficult stock market, driven by a vexing credit universe, Ottawa-based Bridgewater Systems completed their initial public offering a day or two ago (see prior posts “Bridgewater IPO finally arrives“, November 6-07). The book is done. Another great win for early investors Terry Matthews, VenGrowth and Rising Tide Fund (formerly Newbury Ventures).

Wasn’t quite as big a raise as they might have wanted. But given the market backdrop, getting the deal across the finish line is a huge feat even for a story as good as this one.

The underwriting syndicate was made up of CIBC, Genuity, GMP, RBC and TDSI; names we are seeing quite frequently in tech land.

The deal serves as a warning to the rest of Bay Street: many of the TSX tech IPOs from earlier this year are trading below issue price and any prospective offerings will have to be of the highest quality to succeed.

Congrats.

MRM