IPO

PcOrder.com to co-star in this week's public offers

NEW YORK
Although few companies plan public offerings this week, the backlog of expected deals keeps rising.

Not surprising, most of the latest IPO hopefuls do business on the Internet. Among the registrants for an offering with the Securities & Exchange Commission:

• Mapquest.com, a 30-plus-year-old-company that recently added its digital mapping expertise to the Web.
  
• Informatica, a data analysis software company.
  
• Musicmaker.com, which sells customized CDs over the Internet using the popular MP3 format.
  
• Claimsnet.com, which had to cancel its initial IPO attempt late last year after the stock began trading due to a lack of underwriter support, has refiled for a 2.5 million share offering. This time, the lead manager has a more familiar name: Cruttendon Roth. Plus, quasi-rival Healtheon completed a successful deal earlier this month, which should help sell the Claimsnet.com IPO.
  
• David Bridal, which says it's the only national retailer of wedding gowns, has filed for an offering led by Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette.
  
• Drug testing product maker Ansys Diagnostics wants to sell 2.5 million shares at $10 to $12.
  
• Clontech Laboratories, which provides genetic research to help scientists find ways to treat diseases, enlisted BT Alex. Brown to lead its attempt to go public.

IPO Pricings

Meanwhile, this week's slate is a light one for the IPO market, with another ".com" deal expected to grab the lion's share of the attention. PcOrder.com is hoping to sell 2.2 million shares at $11 to $13 via lead manager Goldman Sachs. The Austin, Texas-based business-to-business company, a spin-off of Trilogy Software, helps computer retailers and distributors order and sell products via the Internet.

The other major deal of the week is Corporate Executive Board, a management research subscription service that counts more than 64 percent of the Fortune 500 as customers. Salomon Smith Barney is managing the 8.2 million share offering, expected to price between $17 and $19.

Written By Darren Chervitz