Graham concludes IPO

(York, PA) went forward with its initial public offering (IPO), announcing on Feb. 10 it would offer 16,666,667 shares of its common stock at $10.00 per share, with trading on the New York Stock Exchange having begun on Feb. 11 under the ticker symbol GRM. The offering closed last week on Feb. 17, and as of press time on Friday, Feb. 19, the shares were trading for $10.35, down $0.05/share from the day before, on volume eclipsing 50,000 shares. Over the course of its first trading week, the shares got as high as $10.91 on Feb. 16 and as low as $9.77 share on Feb. 11.

According to financial industry press reports, including this one from Bloomberg, Graham owner, private equity firm Blackstone, earned less than half of what it initially sought in the share sale, raising $167 million after seeking as much as $373 million. Graham has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2.5 million shares at the IPO price. The company said the majority of the IPO's proceeds would go towards paying down company debt.