Facebook 'filing $100bn flotation'

 

 

By Richard Blackden, US Business Editor

 

 

Morgan Stanley, the US investment bank which played a role in the IPOs of several internet-based companies last year, including LinkedIn, is expected to be Facebook's lead adviser.

 

Goldman Sachs, which helped Facebook raise $1.5bn at the start of 2010, is also said to have a role, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal. 

A successful flotation would come as a huge boost to Wall Street where banks have been starved of lucrative deals in the wake of the financial crisis.

 

Facebook has said it intends to go public, with most analysts expecting the move in the first half of the year. Under US law, the group will have to start disclosing its financial results from April because it has more than 500 investors.

 

The IPO, which is expected to raise about $10bn, is set to make its founder Mark Zuckerberg a billionaire several times over. The group is thought to be keen to list on the New York Stock Exchange, rather than the more tech heavy Nasdaq.

 

PrivCo, a US group that studies privately held companies, claimed last night that Facebook was targeting an IPO price of $38 to $40 for its shares, with a target value for the company of $90bn to $95bn.

 

The company was said to be reluctant to aim for the full $100bn valuation in the hope of leaving some value for investors following the listing.

 

Facebook will file its paperwork late on Tuesday night, according to Privco. Telegraph