CHICAGO (Oct. 20, 3:30 p.m. EDT) — Internet software provider Commerx Inc. has withdrawn plans to file for an initial public offering due to unfavorable market conditions.
The Chicago-based company — known for its Commerx PlasticsNet Web site — had registered Jan. 26 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise as much as $100 million through an IPO.
In an Oct. 13 letter to the SEC, Chief Financial Officer David Dill withdrew the registration statement. The company remained in registration as long as it could in hopes that the market would change, Dill said in an Oct. 19 telephone interview.
Since January, Commerx has shifted away from its trading model to furnish technology and software to individual companies. Commerx already has raised sufficient private funds to support its new model, Dill said.
"Any private company aspires in some sense to go public," said Dill, citing the flexibility involved with public funds. "There´s not a need for us to do that in the short term, but we might consider it again when the market timing is right."
Web trade-exchange firms CheMatch.com Inc. and ChemConnect Inc. withdrew similar IPO plans earlier this year.
Commerx officials also said Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Garwood, who recently resigned, will stay with the company until a replacement is named.