Evertec up in debut as a publicly traded company

[April 13, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Evertec's stock climbed in its first day as a publicly traded company.

Shares of the payment processing company, which also provides business process management and other services, added $1.16, or 5.8 percent, to $21.16 in morning trading Friday after rising as high as $21.99 earlier.

The initial public offering of about 25.3 million shares priced at $20 each, at the high end of the expected range of $18 to $20 per share.

Evertec Inc. raised approximately $506 million overall from the IPO.

Evertec is offering about 6.3 million shares in the IPO while an affiliate of Apollo Global Management LLC is offering about 10.2 million and Popular Inc. about 8.8 million. The San Juan, Puerto Rico, company won't receive any proceeds from shares sold by Apollo, Popular or other selling stockholders.

Evertec anticipates about $117.4 million in proceeds, after taking out underwriters' discounts and commissions and other expenses. It plans to use a substantial amount of the proceeds to pay back existing debt.

The underwriters will have a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 3.8 million shares from Apollo.

After the offering, Apollo will own 33.6 percent of the company's outstanding stock, while Popular will own 33.5 percent. If the underwriters fully exercise their option, they will own 28.8 percent and 33.5 percent, respectively.

The shares are trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "EVTC." The offering is expected to close on Wednesday.

[Associated Press]

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