French IT services company Steria SA starts trading on the Second Marche in Paris today, following an initial public offering valuing the company at approximately 135m euros ($139m).
Paris-based Steria placed some 1.12 million shares at a unit price of 40.09 euros ($41.47), which was the top of the pricing range. Of the shares sold, which represent 33.4% of the company’s total equity, 266,158 were new issues, raising some 10.6m euros ($11m).
The company says it plans to use the funds raised by the IPO to further expand its operations, particularly through mergers and acquisitions. Steria opened its first US office in San Francisco at the beginning of this month. For 1998, the company announced a net profit of 4m euros ($4.2m) on revenue of 250m euros ($264m).
