Shares in electronic communications network eSpeed Inc nearly doubled in their Nasdaq debut Friday following the company’s initial public offering of 9 million shares at $22 each. The stock opened the session at $34.50 and traded as high as $48.5625 before closing at $43.9375 for a 99.7% first-day gain. The company raised $132m before expenses in the sale, as 3 million of the shares were sold by parent company Cantor Fitzgerald Securities.
eSpeed operates an electronic financial network, similar to The Island ECN Inc or Instinet Corp, which enables users to trade securities instantly. It claims to be the largest global electronic marketplace for US Treasury securities and among the leaders in fixed income securities and financial instruments. The company was formed by global fixed income marketplace company Cantor Fitzgerald with the intent of spinning it off eventually.
eSpeed claims to have invested $200m in its technology infrastructure since 1996 and began operations in March of this year. From that time through September 24, it has accrued a net loss of $6.6m on revenue of $24.1m, according to its regulatory filing. Warburg Dillon Read LLC, Hambrecht and Quist LLC and Thomas Weisel Partners LLC acted as managing underwriters of the IPO. The shares are trading under the ticker symbol ESPD.
