Sourcefire Seeks Up To $75 Million In IPO

Sourcefire, which oversees commercial development of the open source intrusion prevention technology Snort, Wednesday filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlining its intention to go public.

According to the SEC filing, Sourcefire reported total revenue of $28.9 million and gained 171 new customers during the first nine months of 2006, compared to $21.2 million in revenue and 116 customers during the same period last year. Sourcefire's employee base rose to 174 during the first nine months of this year, up from 142 a year ago.

The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering had yet to be determined, and Sourcefire and some of its stockholders were expected to sell the shares in the offering, the Columbia, Md.-based vendor said in a statement.

Morgan Stanley will be the lead manager of the offering, while Lehman Brothers will serve as co-lead manager and UBS Securities LLC and Jefferies & Company will serve as co-managers, Sourcefire said.

In October 2005, Sourcefire agreed to be acquired by Israel-based Check Point Software Technologies, but the $225 million deal was scuttled because of government regulatory concerns. Snort is used by Department of Defense and other government agencies, as well as by several large U.S. corporations.

Sourcefire's shares will trade under the proposed Nasdaq ticker symbol FIRE, according to the filing.