MedAssets’ stock-market debut last week was a lucrative one for investors in the Alpharetta, Ga.-based company, whose share price rose 28% on the first day of trading Dec. 13.
The group-purchasing and healthcare-revenue management company began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market at $19.75, about 23% higher than its initial public offering price of $16 per share. The company’s stock closed that day at $20.50 per share and closed Dec. 14 at $22.25.
“Given that we’d priced the initial offering at the high range, we clearly believe that it performed very successfully,” said Robert Borchert, investor relations spokesman for MedAssets.
MedAssets is the first healthcare-based group purchasing organization to be traded publicly. The IPO placed 13.3 million shares of MedAssets common stock on the market.
The company and its original owners have granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional 1.9 million for trading. Borchert would not comment on whether underwriters have exercised that option, but John Bardis, MedAsset’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, stands to be among the company’s top-earning investors as a result of the deal. Bardis’ 2.45 million shares owned were valued at about $54 million based on trading at the Dec. 14 close.
