All Hail Caesar! Casino Company Jumps in Debut

[Stocks-to-Watch]

Caesars Entertainment (CZR) went public in an unusual stock offering today, and shares are already way above the offering price. In fact, in midday trading they were trading hands at $13.91 per share, 57% above the $9 offering price.

But the dynamics of this odd IPO make it difficult to determine just how successful it has been.

Private equity firms Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital took the company private in 2008. In the IPO today, Caesars sold 1.8 million shares, or about 1.4% of the company, on the public market. Those shares were basically granted to the company by private investors who wanted to gain some liquidity for the shares they got at the time of the leveraged buyout.

At the current share price, the company’s equity value is below $2 billion, versus about $5.4 billion when the company first tried and failed to go public in 2010.

For more on this unique IPO, read Andrew Bary’s article from yesterday on Barrons.com.



Original Article Source by Barrons.com