Corrections or additions?
Princeton eCom aka Princeton Telecom: an IPO
These articles by Barbara Fox were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on April 7, 1999. All rights reserved.
Two years ago Princeton TeleCom was helping big banks
deal with electronic payments. Now the 16-year-old firm is using the
same technology to help engineer the fast-moving E-commerce train.
The Research Park-based firm has changed its name to Princeton eCom
Corporation, and last week it filed an S-1 registration — a preliminary
statement — with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a
$46 million initial public offering, to be managed by BancBoston Robertson
Stephens and Donald, Lufkin & Jenrette. For a prospectus call 415-781-9700.
The stock would trade on Nasdaq under the symbol ECOM.
Princeton Telecom, now Princeton eCom, is already a leading provider
of Internet bill publishing and payment services for large businesses
and financial institutions. It was founded by Donald Licciardello,
a Princeton University physics professor and an alumnus of the University
of Scranton, Class of ’68, and the University of Virginia; he currently
owns 62 percent of the stock.
Princeton eCom had 56 workers in 1997 and has 80 employees now, all
located in 11,000 square feet at Research Park. In its expansion mode
the firm says it needs to hire experienced sales professionals plus
expertise in market research, public relations, marketing, trade shows,
speaking engagements, and web site marketing.
The prospectus notes that the firm has had net losses in each of the
past five years, and that losses increased last year by 57 percent,
going to $3.4 million in 1998. But revenues grew 26 percent to $3.8
million in 1998. Billing Concepts, based in San Antonio, Texas, has
a $10 million investment in Princeton eCom and owns 23 percent of
the 2.3 million existing shares. No share price or share volume has
been made public.
Ronald W. Averett, 42, was made president and COO last month. He helped
spin off Chevy Chase Bank’s credit card business last December, and
he has also worked at Advanta and Citibank.
As an outsource solution for bill presentment and payment, the firm
has brand neutral products that eliminate the need for companies to
generate and mail paper bills as well as the need for consumers to
write and mail checks. Among its products are Electronic Lockbox Service,
1-800 PayBill, and the new Internet bill publishing service.
The Electronic Lockbox Service is a back-end service: It delivers
verified payments to the biller’s accounts-receivable platform for
posting. Federated Department Stores, for instance, is a Princeton
eCom customer. The retail customer who uses online banking pays a
bill electronically to Macy’s, and the parent company (Federated)
aggregates the payments and sends them to Research Park.
“Banks that capture these electronic payments send `a check and
a list,'” said Licciardello in an article in U.S. 1 November 5,
1997. He referred to how one big check is accompanied by a list of
payments to be drawn on that check: “The billers hire us to help
automate those `check and lists’.” Princeton eCom’s revenues come
from transaction fees and “overnight interest” on the payments.
1-800 PayBill allows Princeton eCom’s clients to accept payments by
telephone and is the forerunner of a new Internet bill publishing
service, which has not yet been given a brand name. For one utility,
consumers can check the amount of a bill on the telephone and pay
it or postpone it.
A third option: customers can choose to see a bill and pay it on the
utility’s website. Bell Atlantic Mobile and Lucent Technologies Consumer
Products are among those using this Internet bill publishing service.
Digital Scanline, a value-added service of all the products, will
digitize the payment list and validate the “postability” of
each record.
Princeton e-Com also operates a call center so that clients can outsource
customer service inquiries on Internet bill publishing and payment
and 1-800-PayBill.
When interviewed two years ago (U.S. 1, November 5, 1997), Licciardello
cited more than 250 customers and “electronic lockbox” connectivity
to more than 700 national bill senders.
A major competitor, Atlanta-based CheckFree, claims to be the leading
provider of electronic billing and payment processing and trades on
Nasdaq as CKFR. The difference: CheckFree is trying to do both front-end
and back-end business, through retail banks, whereas Princeton eCom
has stayed with the back end.
Two years ago Princeton eCom’s business seemed limited by the number
of retail customers who would take the trouble to set up online checking
accounts. Now that it seems possible for anyone with a credit card
and an Internet account to be able to pay their bills online, the
newly renamed firm can tap the growing E-commerce market.
— Barbara Fox
Princeton eCom Corporation, 165 Wall Street, Princeton08540. Donald C. Licciardello, CEO. 609-924-1244; fax, 609-924-1096.Home page: https://www.princetontele.com.Top Of PageCarnegie’s HorizonTwo new office buildings at Carnegie Center may adda new look to Route 1. The West Windsor planning board has scheduleda meeting Tuesday, April 20, to review the final site plans of CarnegieCenter Associates for 901 Carnegie, a 140,000-square foot buildingat Carnegie Center West (between Macaroni Grill and Carnegie CenterBoulevard) and 302 Carnegie, a 100,000-foot building on a triangularlot south of Summit Bank. Both new buildings would front on Route1.Sam Surtees, the township’s director of community development, saysthe proposal for the east side has received approval for a stand-alonesign for Merrill Lynch, which might occupy up to 60,000 feet of the100,000-foot building. The nine-acre site for 901 Carnegie would bedeveloped by Hallbridge Real Estate Group, the just-formed partnershipof Hal Hoeland and Suzy Trowbridge, who are negotiating with severalpotential tenants.Hoeland, a 1969 alumnus of Princeton University, is also presidentof Princeton Development Group. His projects include the 25,000-footWoodlands Professional Building on Bunn Drive, finished in 1995, anda new medical arts building now under construction on Princeton-HightstownRoad. Trowbridge went to Boston College, Class of 1963, and has beena reporter for the Chicago Tribune, a writer for Town Topics, and,as a licensed real estate broker, a leasing agent for Forrestal Villageand Palmer Square.Another Hallbridge project, a 17-acre site on Schalks Crossing Roadzoned for 200,000 square feet, will be developed for laboratory and/orresearch and communications companies that need “turn-key”access to the latest networking and communications technology.Hallbridge Real Estate Group LLC, Box 428, Princeton08542. 609-924-3495; fax, 609-924-3496. E-mail: trow225@aol.comTop Of PageVillage Bank Extends OfferVillage Financial Corporation is having another go atattracting from $5 million to $12 million of seed capital to set upa federally chartered savings bank. CEO Kenneth J. Stephon extendedthe purchase deadline and scheduled an information session for potentialsubscribers to the initial public offering of common stock at $10a share. The reception will be Wednesday, April 14, at 7 p.m. at MercerMutual Insurance, 10 Route 31 North, Pennington. Call 609-689-1010for reservations.The future bank’s failure to meet the deadline was not surprising– other new banks have had that problem. What did seem surprisingwas that a Business News New Jersey article reporting the bank’s shortfalland speculating on the bank’s perception problems did not mentionthe connection between George M. Taber (founder and president of theNew Brunswick-based newspaper) and Village Financial (Taber is onthe board of the future bank).In a short article in the April 5 issue of Business News, a consultantspeculated on why the bank failed its minimum goal, suggesting thatbecause Stephon had been CEO of a bank in South Jersey he lacks visibilityin this area. Readers might have wondered whether the board was sendinga message to Stephon through the magazine.No, says Diana Lassiter Drake, the managing editor: “We were justreporting the story as we normally would, and we will continue toreport this story as it happens.” Drake notes that Taber’s connectionto the bank was disclosed in previous stories; she plans to clarifythe policy.Reached by telephone, Stephon said that the board had considered thevisibility question, but he enumerated some other factors that hadnot been accounted for. One was the timing. Says Stephon: “Manypeople told me their investment plans were affected by needing towait for tax refunds.”Another was public reaction to the offering amount. Though the offeringwas planned for up to $12 million, only $5 million in capital is actuallyneeded to begin. But as Stephon points out, if the offering had beencapped at, for instance, $7 million, and the interest far exceededthat, the bank would have had to reject some investors or start allover. “We didn’t want to be in that position,” says Stephon.The new bank’s federal thrift charter may also need explaining. “Itwas initially designed and is still intended to promote home ownershipof individuals and families within the community. We think that isa noble goal,” says Stephon.In contrast to mortgage companies, he says, banks can provide fullbanking services. And with the recent change in thrift charters, thriftscan make a large number of commercial loans. “We think the flexibilityof the charter gives us certain business advantages,” says Stephon,pointing out that Sovereign Bank, the 900-pound gorilla of the thrifts,has the same charter as his bank.Among the other thrift banks are Roma Federal Savings, Magyar, andStephon’s alma mater, Pennsauken-based Clover. “Everybody’s makingoutstanding money,” says Stephon.Village Financial Corporation, 23 Route 31, PenningtonPoint, Suite A-22, Pennington 08534. 609-730-0183; fax, 609-737-0003.Top Of PageManagement MovesRichard Plumeri has merged his Hamilton Square residentialreal estate firm with Coldwell Banker, and it will be known as ColdwellBanker Richardson Realtors (609-586-0400).Top Of PageDeathsBetty Logan 57, on March 24. She was the former fieldhockey and lacrosse coach at Princeton University. A service willbe Sunday, April 11, at 3 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church.George Wilson Bishop, 76, on March 30. He owned BishopEngineering on Lawrence Road.Gordon R. Clayton, 57, on March 31. He worked for PrincetonRegional School District and Ellsworth Liquor Store.Bayard G. Gardineer, 68, on April 5. A mechanical engineer,he co-founded EchoCath Inc. on Route 1 North.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
