SolarWinds shares rise 3.2 percent in downsized market debut

[October 20, 2018]   (Reuters) - SolarWinds Corp's shares <SWI.N> rose as much as 3.2 percent in their downsized U.S. market debut on Friday, giving the enterprise software maker a market value of about $4.80 billion.

The company's shares opened at $15.41, about 2.7 percent above its initial public offering price of $15.

The Austin, Texas-based company had initially filed to sell 42 million shares and expected the offering to be priced between $17 and $19 apiece.

The company cut the IPO size after stockholders, who were initially selling 25 million shares, chose not to sell any shares. SolarWinds increased its offering size by 8 million shares and cut the target price range to between $15 and $16 per share.

It finally sold 25 million shares at $15 apiece on Thursday, at the low end of its target price range, raising $375 million in total proceeds, which it expects to use to pay down debt. (https://bit.ly/2P8GGSN)

SolarWinds, whose clients include Accenture <ACN.N>, oil giant Chevron <CVX.N>, defense contractor Lockheed Martin <LMT.N>, provides management software and operates in an industry expected to grow annually at 6.6 percent to around $53.6 billion by 2021, according to International Data Corporation.

SolarWinds Corp. CEO Kevin Thompson and employees celebrate the company's IPO during the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., October 19, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The company was taken private in a $4.5 billion deal in 2015 by investment firms Thoma Bravo LLC and Silver Lake Partners, which also holds stakes in Tesla <TSLA.O>, Alibaba Group <BABA.N>, Ant Financial, Dell Technologies and Didi Chuxing. (https://reut.rs/2yqaKja)

Silver Lake is the company's biggest shareholder with a 44.3 percent stake after the offering. Thoma Bravo - an investor in cyber firm McAfee - holds 36.1 percent.

SolarWinds reported revenue of $398.6 million for the first six months of 2018, up 17 percent from a year earlier. Net loss, however, widened to $86.9 million in the same period, from $45.7 million a year ago.

Its main competitors include International Business Machines Corp <IBM.N>, KKR-owned BMC Software, and NetScout Systems, the company said in a filing.

Goldman Sachs & Co, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Suisse were the lead underwriters for the offering.

(Reporting by Bharath Manjesh and Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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