Nielsen Names IPO Share Price

Nielsen has priced its forthcoming initial public offering (IPO) at around $1.64bn or $23.00 per share. The shares will trade from today on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol 'NLSN'.

Nielsen first notified the SEC last June that it intended to raise up to $1.75bn in an IPO, to pay down debt and for 'general corporate purposes'. The firm then upped the target to $2.01bn in August.

In addition to the above 71.4m shares of common stock, the IPO's underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to 10.7m additional shares from Nielsen at the IPO price less the underwriting discount.

After payment of commissions and estimated expenses, Nielsen estimates it will receive net proceeds of c.$1.56bn from the IPO.

Nielsen has also priced a concurrent offering of $250m in bonds, which will be mandatorily convertible into shares of its common stock on February 1, 2013. The research giant expects to make around $240m from the bond offering, after paying commission and expenses. Both IPO and bond proceeds will be used to buy the firm back from its present owners who acquired it in 2006.

Web site: www.nielsen.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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