Wealthy investors shy away from Facebook public offering

Wealthy investors aren’t clamoring for a piece of Facebook Inc’s initial public offering (IPO) because some own the stock through private transactions while others shy away from risky technology deals, according to advisers.

“It’s kind of the late arrivals who get excited around the time of the IPO,” said Jason Thomas, chief investment officer of Aspiriant, whose clients on average have about $10 million under management with the Los Angeles-based firm. “Our clients remember the tech bubble very well, and are appropriately skeptical of being the last money in.”

Facebook, the world’s biggest social-networking service, filed yesterday to raise as much as $5 billion in the largest Internet IPO. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Barclays Plc and Allen & Co. were hired to handle the deal for the Menlo Park, California- based company. The $5 billion figure is a placeholder used to calculate fees and may change.

Based on recent IPOs, investors who are able to buy in at the offering price once it’s determined could be looking at below-average returns if they seek to buy and hold. They may face a large tax bite if they sell into an early run-up in the stock price.