Nielsen Holdings rallied in its first day of trading following its initial public offering.
Nielsen, the television ratings company owned by Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, KKR & Co. and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, climbed 8.7 percent to $25 in New York Stock Exchange trading after raising $1.6 billion in the biggest private equity-backed US IPO since 2006.
LBO funds are betting that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s rally to a two-year high will increase demand for IPOs of debt-fueled acquisitions completed as credit markets started to freeze four years ago.
Venture capital-backed companies from LinkedIn to Groupon Inc. are also considering initial offerings, people familiar with the situation have said.
“We’re off to a strong start to the overall market and as a result of that the IPO market is off to a good start as well,” said Quinten Stevens, managing partner at Darien, Conn.-based hedge fund Stevens Asset Management LLC. “It’s a good environment for the balance of the year for investors and companies.”
Nielsen sold 71.4 million shares at $23 each after offering them at $20 to $22 apiece, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley led the offering.
The sale by Nielsen was the biggest from a private equity-backed LBO target in the US since Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. raised $1.65 billion in November 2006.