Betfair proved its naysayers wrong this week, with its proposed IPO of ten percent of its shares over-subscribed in the first 24 hours Friday.
British business media quote sources close to the IPO as saying that just a day after the launch of the prospectus, investors had placed orders for all of the shares being made available….and at the prices Betfair asked, valuing the company at some GBP 1.48 billion.
There are reports that on Friday the banks putting the public listing together told their sellers to cease offering the stock as the order book was already full.
The prospectus advised Thursday that 10 percent of Betfair’s shares would be put on the market at a price between GBP 11 and GBP 14.