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SoCal Investor Benefits From Fabrinet IPO

A little known Southern California venture capital investor is benefiting from the IPO of Silicon Valley-based Fabrinet today, after Fabrinet said it has priced its IPO and will list on the New York Stock Exchange. According to Fabrinet's S-1, one of the major shareholders of the firm is actually Walnut, California-based Shea Ventures, a venture capital firm attached to home builder and construction firm J.F. Shea. Fabrinet lists Shea Ventures as one of the bigger investors in the firm, with 6.5 percent of the company. Shea Ventures--which is based out of J.F. Shea's Southern California headquarters in Walnut--apparently invests in early stage investments in the computer software, semiconductors, biotechnology and medical devices area, according to the J.F. Shea web site. Shea said that its venture capital activities began as an offshoot of the firm's activity building the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in 1968. Fabrinet said Friday that it has priced its IPO at $10.00, down from an estimated pricing range of $12.00 to $14.00 per share. Fabrinet provides precision optical, electro-mechanical and electronic manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers.