Caesars Begins Trading Wednesday: Goes Public and Floated with 1.4 Million Shares
Casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corp. went public on Wednesday (February 8, 2012), with its stock price surging 71 percent after completing an initial public offering.
The IPO was significantly reduced from its 2010 attempt.
The stock rose to $15.39 by 4 p.m. EST, valuing Caesars at $1.92 billion. The company raised $16.3 million selling less than 2 percent of its shares at $9 each.
It has previously scrapped a $531 million IPO in November 2010.
“The float is small, so not too much surprises me” about the stock gain, David Bain a California-based senior analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach Inc., said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News. “Where shares trade today is likely not a good benchmark for future Caesars valuation.”
Caesars is trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol CZR.
Last week Caesars announced it had extended its software agreement with 888 Holdings to provide legalized online poker in the US once the company obtains a license in the state of Nevada.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
