(Bloomberg) — Bats Global Markets Inc. investors will sell a stake of as much as $253 million in the stock exchange operator in its initial public offering, some $40 million more than originally planned.
The company, which is the second-biggest exchange for U.S. stocks, will sell 13.3 million shares at $17 to $19 apiece, according to an updated filing on Thursday. It had planned to sell 11.2 million. The shares will price after the markets close on Thursday, and begin trading the next day.
The firms investors also added an option to sell more stock than previously planned. Stockholders — includingBank of America Corp., Knight Capital Holdings LLC and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — can now sell as many as 2 million additional shares, which would boost the total size of the IPO to 15.3 million shares, according to the filing. Bats wont receive any of the proceeds from the offering because only its current stockholders are selling shares.
Bats had demand for at least five times the number of shares originally offered as of Monday, a person familiar with the matter said at the time.
Slow Start
Bats is being viewed as a potential icebreaker for whats been the slowest start to the year for U.S. public listings since the recession. If it lists successfully, the exchange operator will be the first biggest company to go public in 2016. It will also be the first IPO outside of the biotechnology industry.
Volatility in stocks and valuation pressure from investors have helped delay multiple offerings this year. Take airport restaurant and concession operator OTG EXP Inc., which delayed its offering in February after lowering its price range.
Bats has tried to go public before, back in 2012. That time, a software error on its own stock exchange force it to cancel the listing. The company is again planning to sell shares on its own exchange.
The IPO will still value Bats at as much as $1.8 billion, more than double the amount of its aborted first attempt to list shares four years ago. That market capitalization would rank it 17th among the worlds biggest exchange operators, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. are leading the offering.
