Travelport Worldwide shares surged on their first day of listing, with the company now valued at around $2.13 billion.
The travel technology firm, whose main shareholders are Blackstone Group, is being floated to “repay debt and certain other liabilities”.
Travelport, which provides booking platforms for the travel industry, raised $480 million after its offering of 30 million shares was priced at $16 a share on Wednesday (September 24). However, when US markets opened yesterday, the price rose up to $17.7 a share.
In 2006 Travelport was acquired by Blackstone and Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) for $4.3 billion.
The private equity-backed firm, which owns global distribution systems (GDSs) Galileo and Worldspan, then sought a London listing for the company in 2010, but suspended it after volatility in the financial markets.