Shares of Swift Transportation Co (SWFT.N) rose slightly in their stock market debut on Thursday after a delayed and downsized IPO.


The shares closed at $11.10 on the New York Stock Exchange, a dime above their $11 initial public offering price, but below its original range of $13 to $15 a share. The largest truckload carrier in the nation raised $806.3 million in its initial public offering of 73.3 million shares of Class A common stock on Wednesday. That was 14.5 percent less than anticipated.

Swift sold more than half of its shares in the IPO. The company plans to use the proceeds, along with funds from a loan, to repay debt and purchase more debt, according to a regulatory filing.

Swift is the second-largest U.S. IPO this year, but well behind the IPO of U.S. automaker General Motors Co. (GM.N) at $23.1 billion, including common and preferred shares and overallotments.

So far this year, companies debuting in the United States have posted average first-day gains of about 9 percent and year-to-date returns of about 19.5 percent, according to data from Connecticut-based IPO investment firm Renaissance Capital.

The underwriters of the Swift IPO were led by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo.

More info: www.swifttrans.com

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