Facebook mandates three more banks to underwrite $5 billion IPO
03 Mar 2012
Facebook has mandated Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse Group and Citigroup to underwrite its $5 billion initial public offering (IPO), possibly the largest Internet IPO to date, and boost its accessible credit.
The hiring is in addition to the earlier appointment of Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of America, Barclays and Allen & Co for the IPO.
Facebook will get a new credit line of more than $2.5 billion from its new and existing banks, increasing its total pipeline of borrowings to more than $5 billion, according to various media reports.
The social networking company sales almost doubled to $3.71 billion last year, compared with a $3 billion credit line for Google, the most valuable U.S. Internet company, according to Bloomberg data.
Facebook, led by co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, filed regulatory documents for a $5-billion-IPO on 1 February 2012, though the amount may change.
It had been discussing raising as much as $10 billion, which would make its offering the biggest ever by an internet or technology company.