ARCHIVED  October 1, 1997

Applied Films files public offering

BOULDER — Applied Films Corp., the Boulder company that˜s relocating its headquarters to a new facility in the Del Camino area of Weld County, has filed an initial public offering.
The offering, filed Sept. 10 with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, will effectively spin the company off from its current parent, Donnelly Corp. of Holland, Mich.
"Donnelly has made a strategic decision to focus on its core automotive business and as a result has decided to divest its ownership position in the company," Applied Films says in its filing. "Applied Films believes that its spin-out from Donnelly will allow it to more strongly establish its identity as a thin film technology company focusing on the FPD [flat panel display] market."
The company anticipates an offering of 1.9 million shares priced at $9.50 to $11.50 per share. Only 500,000 shares would be offered by the company itself, with the balance to be sold by Donnelly. The total offering could grow to almost 2.2 million shares if the underwriters, Needham & Co. Inc. and D.A. Davidson & Co., exercise an option to purchase additional shares from the company.
Assuming an offering price of $10.50 per share, Applied Films itself would receive net proceeds from the offering of $4.9 million, which would be used to repay debt. As of June 28, the company had $7.1 million in debt outstanding on its line of credit, according to its registration statement.
Applied Films develops thin-film technology for use in flat-panel displays, which are found in a wide variety of consumer and industrial products, such as cellular telephones, calculators, laptop computers, pagers, televisions, video games, gasoline pumps and scientific instruments, according to the company.
Applied Films will be traded on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol AFCO. The company reported net sales of $34 million in fiscal year 1997, compared with $21.7 million the previous year.
The company currently occupies three buildings in Boulder totaling 98,000 square feet but in June signed a lease for a new 127,000-square-foot facility in Del Camino. The property was developed by the Neenan Co. of Fort Collins.
"The company believes this location will enable it to draw from a larger employment base," Applied Films said in its filing.
Applied Films president Cecil Van Alsburg declined to comment on the company˜s IPO, citing a "quiet period" related to the filing. But he did say that the company has begun a one- to two-year process of moving its operations to the Weld facility.
"We˜re kind of gradually moving over there," he said.
The company employs about 232 workers, but that˜s expected to increase to 300 to 350 with the relocation to Weld County.
Originally incorporated in 1976, Applied Films merged with a Donnelly subsidiary in 1992. Two years later, Donnelly consolidated all its operations in Boulder.

BOULDER — Applied Films Corp., the Boulder company that˜s relocating its headquarters to a new facility in the Del Camino area of Weld County, has filed an initial public offering.
The offering, filed Sept. 10 with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, will effectively spin the company off from its current parent, Donnelly Corp. of Holland, Mich.
"Donnelly has made a strategic decision to focus on its core automotive business and as a result has decided to divest its ownership position in the company," Applied Films says in its filing. "Applied Films believes that its spin-out from Donnelly will allow…

Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood is editor and publisher of BizWest, a regional business journal covering Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties. Wood co-founded the Northern Colorado Business Report in 1995 and served as publisher of the Boulder County Business Report until the two publications were merged to form BizWest in 2014. From 1990 to 1995, Wood served as reporter and managing editor of the Denver Business Journal. He is a Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder. He has won numerous awards from the Colorado Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Alliance of Area Business Publishers.
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