Boutique investment bank Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) suffered the ignominy of floating on the market at below the indicated offer price.
The initial public offering (IPO) of the Los Angeles firm was priced at US$21 a pop, below the previously indicated range of US$22 to US$24.
While it might be somewhat embarrassing for an investment bank to be part of an IPO where the pricing has proved to be a bit wonky, its face was saved by shares quickly advancing to US$22.80 in early deals.
The bank, which has earned fees advising on some of the biggest debt restructurings in recent memory, including that of Lehman Brothers, made 10.5mln class A common shares available in its stock market listing.
Management has protected itself against prospective corporate raiders by keeping the lion’s share of voting rights through class B shares.
As well as advising on debt restructuring, the firm also earns fees from advising on merges 7 acquisitions and corporate bankruptcies.
Shares were trading at US$22.89 in lunchtime trading.