CyrusOne Completes IPO, Shares Trade Higher on NASDAQ

cone-trading

A screen shot of a NASDAQ screen showing the share price of CyrusOne shortly after it began trading this morning. (Source: CyrusOne)

CyrusOne has completed its IPO, pricing its initial sale of shares at $19, above the projected range of $16 to $18, indicating healthy demand for shares of the colocation provider. Shares of CONE rose in price as they commenced trading on the NASDAQ, trading above $21.50 in early trading before settling back to about $21 a share (up 10 percent) in mid-afternoon trading.

CyrusOne operates telecom Cincinnati Bell’s data center business, and has raised $313.5 million in its IPO. Cincinnati Bell hoped to raise at least $264 million, so all signs so far show a successful IPO. The banks managing the deal may buy another 2.5 million shares at the IPO price, adding to the total amount raised.

CyrusOne will trade on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol CONE. Upon completion of the offering, Cincinnati Bell will own 71.6 percent of CyrusOne through its holdings of common stock and its interest in the CyrusOne LP limited partnership, which are exchangable for shares of common stock of CyrusOne.

Cincinnati Bell acquired CyrusOne in 2010 for $525 million, seeing colocation as a potential growth engine. The deal has paid off handsomely, and the IPO for CyrusOne could allow Cincinnati Bell to benefit from investor interest in the data center and cloud computing sector, while shifting significant capital expenses off the telecom company’s balance sheet.