Public Offering

Marylanders interested in owning thoroughbred horses can purchase shares in six racing investment companies founded by Frank Stronach, the owner of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course . The stock offering began earlier this month, allowing investors in several states — including Maryland, California and New York — to own a piece of a thoroughbred for $10 a share. Each company plans to raise revenue by racing its horses until November 2013 and then by selling them. After the sale, the net proceeds would be distributed to shareholders, though the prospectus warns potential investors that owning racehorses involves a "high degree of risk.

Whoever the wag was that said golf is “a good walk spoiled” no doubt had a 20-plus handicap. Yes, the idea of chasing a ball around a series of fields with a stick to knock it into a hole hundreds of yards away is preposterous. How can that possibly be easy, or fun? But that stick is a custom-fitted weapon of forged steel with tight grooves for scientifically-designed loft and lift; a rubber grip endorsed by the best golfers on the planet; and, sometimes, a very serious price tag. The ball in question is a dual-dimpled wad of high-tech material encased in a thin urethane cover and designed to scream off the tee with a satisfying snick, and continue its flight until it is out of sight.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. has begun an 8 million-share public offering of its common stock. The company said it will use the sale proceeds to pay for such things as expansion of testing its experimental drugs in people and operating its manufacturing plant and making acquisitions. The Rockville developer of gene-based drugs filed last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to $1 billion worth of securities in offerings that would be made from time to time as the company saw fit. The offering of 8 million shares the company announced late Thursday stems from that "shelf" registration.

KEYW Holding Corp., a Hanover-based defense contractor, on Tuesday said it intends to sell 7.4 million shares at a public offering of $11.75 per share in an effort to raise money to pay down debt and to fund a recent corporate acquisition. The company raised its offering from last week, when it said it intended to sell 6.5 million shares. The publicly traded company, which counts the National Security Agency and other Department of Defense agencies as customers, said this month it intended to acquire Poole & Associates Inc., of Annapolis Junction, for $126 million in cash and stock.

Genetic Therapy Inc. said yesterday that hopes to raise as much as $22 million in a public offering of 2 million common shares to the public.The Gaithersburg biotechnology company, which plans to use the money for research and development, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday to sell the shares. The stock which is traded on NASDAQ closed yesterday at $10.50, unchanged.Its most recent public offering, in January 1992, was priced at $15 a share and raised $21 million.

Martek Biosciences Corp., a Columbia biotechnology company, raised almost $14 million in an initial public offering yesterday, far less than the company had originally hoped.It was a victory nonetheless for a company with no earnings and a stock market tepid toward the biotech industry in general, according to analysts and industry executives."The fact that they got it done is pretty good," said Prudential Securities analyst Joseph Edelman."Actually we're quite pleased," said Martek Chief Financial Officer Steve Dubin.

Antex Biologics Inc., a cash-strapped biopharmaceutical company in Gaithersburg, said yesterday that it canceled a public offering that would have raised more than $5 million - enough to keep it operating the rest of this year. The underwriter, Roan/Meyers & Associates LLP, notified Antex that it could not complete the offering of stocks and warrants within the time frame that the company had anticipated, Antex said in a statement yesterday. Antex, which has 12.4 million shares outstanding, had filed for the stock sale in October.

Columbia-based Gene Logic raised $24 million yesterday in an initial public offering, one of at least 13 such offerings to hit Wall Street on the same day.Gene Logic, the second Maryland biotechnology company to go public this year, sold 3 million common shares.When trading began yesterday, Gene Logic shares opened at $8 but finished the day at $7.62.The $24 million raised was less than the $33 million, or the $11- $12 per share price, the company and its underwriters had expected.One reason for the lower price, analysts said: a flooded IPO market this week despite weakening demand for initial offerings.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. announced yesterday that it was making a public offering of 6 million of its common shares.Baltimore-based Sinclair said the offering is intended to help it finance its recent acquisition of Sullivan Broadcast Holdings Inc. The Sullivan deal, which was announced Feb. 24, will cost Sinclair as much as $1 billion.Sinclair expects that the offering will raise about $329 million and conclude within a month.Kevin M. Kuzio, an analyst for KDP Investment Advisors Inc. in Montpelier, Vt., said the offering is a way for Sinclair to continue its strategy of using debt to acquire stations.

Martek Biosciences Corp., a Columbia-based biotechnology company that is researching a formula additive made from algae that it says makes babies smarter, has announced it plans to go public.In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Martek said it would make an initial public offering of between 2.7 million and 3.1 million shares, for no more than $12 a share.The 55-employee company has not set a date or price for the offering.In its prospectus, the company said it may sell several million more shares in coming months.

Annapolis-based hotel investment firm Chesapeake Lodging Trust priced its pending stock offering at $18.50 a share and increased the shares to be sold to 6.5 million, the firm announced in a statement Thursday. That's a million more shares than the real estate investment trust originally said Wednesday that it would be offering. The offering's underwriters also have the option to buy up to 975,000 additional shares. The trust hopes to raise a total of $115.2 million in the offering, expected to close Tuesday.

Marylanders interested in owning thoroughbred horses can purchase shares in six racing investment companies founded by Frank Stronach, the owner of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course . The stock offering began earlier this month, allowing investors in several states — including Maryland, California and New York — to own a piece of a thoroughbred for $10 a share. Each company plans to raise revenue by racing its horses until November 2013 and then by selling them. After the sale, the net proceeds would be distributed to shareholders, though the prospectus warns potential investors that owning racehorses involves a "high degree of risk.

As part of its public offering roadshow, Facebook executives met Tuesday evening with managers of T. Rowe Price, whose stake in the social media company could be worth as much as $637 million in the public market. Price owns more than 18 million Facebook shares in its mutual funds as well as in accounts it manages for clients, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Facebook priced its initial public offering between $28 and $35 per share, which means Price's holdings could range from $509 million to $637 million.

Theater and dance students in Prince George's County public schools can attend workshops in March that also offer the opportunity to perform. The second annual Theatre Arts Festival for county drama students will be held Tuesday, March 27 at 7 p.m. at the Bowie Center for the Performing Arts, 15200 Annapolis Road, Bowie. Drama students from Prince George's County public middle schools and high schools will participate in monologue competitions and workshops with professional artists, and the day will end with student performances at 6 p.m. The 15th annual Dance Showcase, on Thursday, March 29 at Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School, 12650 Brooke Lane, Upper Marlboro, provides county dance students an opportunity to work with professional choreographers and receive instruction in various dance genres.

Just a few years ago, SafeNet Inc., a Harford County technology firm, was wracked by a stock options scandal that sent its former chief financial officer to prison, tanked its stock price and eventually led to investors' taking the company private. But on Monday, Belcamp-based SafeNet announced that it is ready to hit Wall Street again. The company disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission its plans to go public in a $300 million stock offering — one of the biggest IPOs by a Maryland company in years.

Metastorm Inc., a privately held Baltimore software provider, said yesterday that it plans to sell public stock. The 12-year-old company filed a registration statement Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering. The company said it could raise as much as $86 million through the offering, according to the SEC filing. Metastorm, which provides software and other products that help businesses improve human and back-end processes and efficiency, has applied to list its common stock on the Nasdaq stock market under the ticker symbol MSTM.

A Maryland high-tech firm has gone public -- and one of the biggest beneficiaries is the state government.Shares in Visual Networks Inc., a Rockville computer network management firm, closed at $18.625 yesterday, making the state's 1994 investment of $250,000 worth $14 million -- a 5,500 percent gain.The initial public offering, priced at $12.50 Friday, raised $46.8 million for the company. With 4 million shares outstanding, the company has a market value of $317.8 million.Robert Markovich, vice president of investor relations and one of the people who founded Visual Networks in 1993, attributed the company's success partly to boosts received from the state.

When word spread of Casper's plight - the Labrador retriever was being cared for by Anne Arundel County police after being found with its throat slashed - offers of financial help came pouring in. The Police Department's Animal Control Section doesn't accept cash donations, so the Anne Arundel County Police Foundation stepped forward. "People wanted to send money in," said Lt. James Richey of the Animal Control Section. "So the police foundation agreed to oversee the money, and they took up some of the bills for Casper."