Healtheon Renews IPO Plan

WASHINGTON — Healtheon Corp., formed by Netscape Communications Corp. Chairman James Clark to process health-care transactions through the Internet, renewed plans for an initial stock offering, three months after canceling earlier IPO plans.

The Santa Clara-based company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise as much as $35 million through the IPO. The money-losing company had in October planned to raise $51 million by selling a 12% stake to the public, valuing the start-up at $430 million.

Healtheon is developing software and services to let doctors, hospitals and insurers share patient information over the global computer network.

In its latest filing, the company didn’t disclose the number of shares it would sell or their expected price range. Those details will be disclosed in a future SEC filing. The $35-million top value was estimated to calculate an SEC registration fee.

Internet stocks last year were star performers in the IPO arena, a trend expected to continue early in 1999. One indicator of strong demand this year for Internet IPO shares is financial publisher MarketWatch.com Inc., which on Wednesday raised by 36% the price of shares it plans to sell.

“If late last year is any indication, it’s [the IPO market] still red-hot,” said Ken Fleming, an analyst at Greenwich, Conn.-based Renaissance Capital Corp.

Healtheon obtained $40 million from an investor group led by Clark when it canceled its first bid to go public. At the time, the company cited a troubled IPO market, which slumped late last year after broader world markets tumbled.

Healtheon’s filing comes as other health-related Internet companies line up to carve out a niche in the market for providing information and services online. For example, Drugstore.com and PlanetRX are scheduled to start selling prescription medicine over the Internet later this year, and Mediconsult.com Inc. and OnHealth Network Co. already provide health news and information online.

Some analysts said they were surprised that Healtheon waited so long to revive its plans for a public offering, as the demand for shares of anything Internet-related has been white-hot.

“There’s definitely going to be a significant buzz around this company when they finally come out,” said Patrick Keane, an analyst with Jupiter Communications.

In Thursday’s filing, Healtheon reported net losses of $35.6 million during the nine months ended Sept. 30, compared with net losses of $21.3 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue grew almost fivefold to $33.2 million from $7 million.

Healtheon is the third high-tech start-up to be founded by Clark, after Netscape and Silicon Graphics Inc., a pioneer of the powerful machines that make computer graphics for films, engineering and design.

Healtheon expects shares to trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol HLTH.