CBOE sees IPO of at least $292m
Thursday, 20 May 2010
CHICAGO, May 19 (Reuters): The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the biggest and oldest US options market, is planning an initial public offering (IPO) of at least $292 million, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.
The planned CBOE offering comes as the US market for IPOs is struggling. The Greek debt crisis and the May 6 unexplained plunge in US stock prices have caused a number of deals to be canceled, postponed or repriced. Some analysts have said there could be a broader dampening effect on new issues.
But as the parent of the last free-standing major North American financial exchange, CBOE Holdings Inc is likely draw strong interest, analysts said. Shares are expected to start trading on Nasdaq OMX's Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "CBOE" on June 15.
"Everybody knows that exchange offerings have been very hot," said Josef Schuster, founder of Chicago-based IPO research house IPOX Schuster LLC in Chicago. "They are very rare and there is a lot of demand. The offering is expected to have a high initial return."
CBOE will sell 9.6 million shares in the offering, while members and brokers handling the IPO will sell 2.1 million shares, it said Tuesday.
Shares will be offered at a minimum price of $25 apiece, with a share price range provided sometime before June 1, CBOE said in a filing in April.
With 102.6 million shares outstanding after the offering, the minimum share price would value CBOE at $2.57 billion.
"This company has very good upside from these levels," said Thomas Caldwell, a Canadian fund manager who has been buying CBOE seats for years and will be among its biggest shareholders after the IPO.
The planned CBOE offering comes as the US market for IPOs is struggling. The Greek debt crisis and the May 6 unexplained plunge in US stock prices have caused a number of deals to be canceled, postponed or repriced. Some analysts have said there could be a broader dampening effect on new issues.
But as the parent of the last free-standing major North American financial exchange, CBOE Holdings Inc is likely draw strong interest, analysts said. Shares are expected to start trading on Nasdaq OMX's Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "CBOE" on June 15.
"Everybody knows that exchange offerings have been very hot," said Josef Schuster, founder of Chicago-based IPO research house IPOX Schuster LLC in Chicago. "They are very rare and there is a lot of demand. The offering is expected to have a high initial return."
CBOE will sell 9.6 million shares in the offering, while members and brokers handling the IPO will sell 2.1 million shares, it said Tuesday.
Shares will be offered at a minimum price of $25 apiece, with a share price range provided sometime before June 1, CBOE said in a filing in April.
With 102.6 million shares outstanding after the offering, the minimum share price would value CBOE at $2.57 billion.
"This company has very good upside from these levels," said Thomas Caldwell, a Canadian fund manager who has been buying CBOE seats for years and will be among its biggest shareholders after the IPO.