NEW YORK-Swisscom A.G., Switzerland’s government-owned telecommunications carrier, went public Oct. 5, raising about $5.5 billion in a 22 million-share offering of stock priced at $251 each.
The Swiss government had hoped to raise as much as $6.6 billion by selling 34.5 percent of its stake in the Bern-based wireless and wireline carrier.
Nevertheless, there was substantial investor demand for the initial public offering, which was oversubscribed by nearly three times the number of available shares.
The federal government sold 14.5 million of its shares in the global stock offering, and Swisscom sold 7.55 million new shares in order to raise more capital for its business development.
Of the total, some 4.4 million shares were sold in the United States in the form of American Depository Receipts, each representing 10 percent of one share of stock. The ADRs, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, opened at $25.30 each.
Warburg Dillon Reed L.L.C. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. were joint coordinators of the IPO.
