S.F.-based sports technology startup Fantex said that it is "putting off" its proposed IPO for Texans RB Arian Foster after he was "placed on injured reserve and is expected to have surgery to repair a ruptured disc," according to Peter Lattman of the N.Y. TIMES. Fantex co-Founder & CEO Buck French said, "We feel this is a prudent course of action under the current circumstances." The decision to delay the Foster deal is "a significant blow to Fantex, which introduced its novel business last month." Fantex now will "presumably focus its energies on a planned offering for its second and only other client," 49ers TE Vernon Davis. Fantex has "yet to file papers" with the SEC for the Davis IPO but "signaled that it was preparing a deal to sell about $4 million in shares to buy 10 percent of Mr. Davis’s future earnings" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/13). BLOOMBERG NEWS' Erik Matuszewski notes Fantex in October filed with the SEC to raise $10.6M in its IPO priced at $10 a share for Foster, "who pledged 20 percent of his on- and off-field earnings to the company in exchange for most of the proceeds of the IPO." It was to be "the first public offering for a professional athlete" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 11/13).
