Lehman Brothers priced 2004’s first IPO on the evening of Jan. 8, 2004. It was the K-Sea Transportation Partners (KSP: chart) offering. The deal was a success.

On July 16, 2003, K-Sea filed for an IPO to offer 3.5 million units of limited partnership interest to raise $88.5 million. The proposed offering price was not set, but the preliminary prospectus “assumed” the offering price to be $21 per common unit.

On Jan. 5, 2004, the proposed offering price was set at $21.50 to $23.50 per common unit. On Jan. 8, 2004, the company priced 3.625 million common units at $23.50 each to raise $85.2 million. The number of units was increased from 3.5 million, and the offering was priced on the high end of its most recent filing range. To the eye of IPO professionals, the signal was the deal was hot. It was.

K-Sea Transportation’s units started trading on Friday, Jan. 9, 2004, at $26.20 per unit and closed at $27.09 -- up $3.59 per unit from its initial offering price, or up 15.3 percent.

That’s success in anybody’s book.

Over the past 10 years, IPOs usually began flowing in mid- to late January. Here are the previous starting dates:

1995: On Jan. 18, two companies went public on that date, according to available records. They were: InfoSafe Systems priced its IPO at $5 a share. On Jan. 9, 2004, there was no record of the company. Timeline (TMLN: chart) priced its IPO at $5 a share. On Jan. 9, 2004, the stock is traded on the OTC bulletin board at 58 cents a share -- down 88.4 percent from its initial offering price.

January 1995 produced 18 IPOs.

1996: On Jan. 23, Arlenco priced its IPO at $14 a share. The company changed its name and was merged into Rent-Way (RWY: chart) for 0.588 of a share for each share of Arlenco. On Jan. 9, 2004, Rent-way closed at $8.48 a share. The value of Arlenco would be $4.99 a share –- down 64.4 percent from its initial offering price.

January 1996 produced 30 IPOs.

1997: On Jan. 9, Sun Hydraulics (SNHY: chart) priced its IPO at $9.50 a share. On Jan. 9, 2004, Sun Hydraulics closed at $8.10 a share –- down 14.7 percent from its initial offering price.

January 1997 produced 34 IPOs.

1998: Jan. 8, Resources Asset Investment (RAS: chart) priced its IPO at $15 a share. On Jan. 9, 2004, Resources Asset closed at $25.44 a share –- up 69.6 percent from its initial offering price.

January 1998 produced 20 IPOs.

1999: On Jan. 15, MarketWatch.com (MKTW: chart) priced its IPO at $17 a share. On Jan. 9, 2004, MarketWatch.com closed at $8.99 a share -- down 47.1 percent from its initial offering price. (Note: The MarketWatch.com IPO sold to an intra-day high of $129 a share, up 658.8 percent from its initial offering price, during its first day of trading.)

January 1999 produced 13 IPOs.

2000: Jan. 14, Talisman Enterprise priced its IPO at $5 a share. On Jan. 9, 2004, there was no quote for Talisman Enterprises.

January 2000 produced 16 IPOs.

2001: Jan. 28, Peet’s Coffee & Tea (PEET: chart) priced its IPO at $8 a share. On Jan. 9, 2004, Peet’s Coffee closed at $17.47 a share -- up 118.4 percent from its initial offering price.

January 2001 produced 3 IPOs.

2002: On Jan. 28, Synaptics (SYNA: chart) priced its IPO at $11 a share. On Jan. 9, 2004, Synaptics closed at $17.68 a share -- up 60.7 percent from its initial offering price.

January 2002 produced 1 IPO.

2003: On Feb. 11, Bancshares of Florida (BOFL: chart) priced its IPO at $10 a share. On Jan. 9, 2004, Bancshares of Florida closed at $15.25 a share -- up 52.5 percent from its initial offering price.