Third Time Lucky for MetroPCS

You could have been forgiven a sense of déja vu, or a believe-it-when-I-see-it attitude, when you heard that MetroPCS was going public. After all, the company tried once, in 1996, failed to raise any of the expected $153 million, and went bankrupt. Then it tried again, in 2004, failed to raise any of the expected $528 million, and ended up with nothing more than a lot of accounting-related egg on its face.

But now, finally, gloriously, MetroPCS has raised an eye-popping $1.15 billion, pricing its IPO at $23 a share, well above expectations. The stock was last seen at $27.30 and rising. And it's not for lack of diffiulties at the company, either:

Leap Wireless International Inc., which also offers prepaid phone plans, has filed a patent lawsuit against MetroPCS seeking damages and a court order preventing the company from using disputed technology. If Leap is successful, MetroPCS may be forced to redesign its network.
The U.S. Department of Justice is informally investigating MetroPCS's delays in upgrading wireless networks in Dallas and Detroit, the company said in a regulatory filing.

This is the biggest IPO of the year so far, and although it will certainly be eclipsed by the Blackstone deal, it will also get much less press than the Fortress deal, which raised a mere $634 million. Mobile phones aren't as sexy as hedge funds, although they can be plenty lucrative: just ask Carlos Slim.

Here's a quick quiz for anybody who thinks they've been following the markets: what was the biggest IPO of 2007 before MetroPCS? Hint: It wasn't Fortress. In fact, chance are you never even noticed it.