GSE Holding Inc and Synacor Inc attracted investors' interest on their first day of trading, rising as much as 33 percent and 27 percent respectively, after the two companies were forced to slash the pricing of their offerings. Some of the companies that debuted this week such as EPAM Systems, Roundy's Parent Co, ChemoCentryx and FX Alliance found more buyers for their shares at prices below their expected range.
Another debutant, HomeStreet Inc, which began trading on Friday afternoon, also saw its stock jump 11 percent. Shares of the Seattle-based lender, which has twice delayed its IPO, closed at $48 on the Nasdaq, 9 percent above their offer price of $44 per share. HomeStreet has been operating under regulatory restrictions and was asked to beef up its capital levels, enhance liquidity and improve asset quality, following the economic downturn. The company undertook the offering to meet the requirements.
Shares of Synacor, which builds Internet software tools and portals, closed 5 percent above the offer price at $5.25 on the Nasdaq. The company had halved the expected price range of its offering to $5-$6 per share from $10-$12 per share. The company, which has Intel Corp as one of its stockholders, counts Google Inc and Toshiba America Information Systems Inc among its customers, it said in its filing.
Shares of polymer maker GSE Holding closed at $11.5, 28 percent above the offer price. Last month, the company had filed with US regulators to downsize its IPO to 7 million shares at $8 to $10 apiece, from 9 million shares for $13 to $15 each.
This is the second shot that both GSE Holding and Synacor gave to the IPO market. GSE Holding - which provides geosynthetic products for industries such as mining, waste management, liquid containment, coal ash containment and shale oil and gas - had postponed its IPO plans last December citing market conditions.
New York-based Synacor had earlier filed to go public in 2007, but withdrew its plans in October 2008, when US markets were battling the financial crisis. It revived its IPO plans last November. GSE Holding's customers include Newmont Mining Corp, Rio Tinto Ltd and Waste Management Inc, it said in its filing. At their Friday's closing price GSE Holding is valued at $210.4 million, Synacor at $134.4 million and HomeStreet at $143.5 million.