A ski patroller rides a Ski-Doo through a cloud of snow blown by snowmaking equipment at Glen Eden Conservation area in Milton, Sunday, January 20 , 2008.J.P. MOCZULSKI/The Globe and Mail
Snowmobile-maker BRP Inc.'s shares fell slightly on their first day of trading after the closing of the company's initial public offering.
The stock closed off 25 cents, or just under 1 per cent, at $25 a share.
On an if-and-when-issued basis, the shares are actually up from their initial offering price of $21.50; they started trading last Thursday after the $21.50 per-share price was set.
Valcourt, Que.-based BRP said on Wednesday that its IPO of 12.2 million subordinate voting shares at $21.50 has closed, with gross proceeds to the company of about $262.3-million.
The proceeds exceeded the initial $250-million target, when the IPO was unveiled, indicating strong demand.
An over-allotment option to buy up to an additional 1.83 million shares has also been granted, at a price of $21.50, for added gross proceeds of $39.34-million, the company said.
Besides snowmobiles, BRP's other products include personal watercraft, Can-Am all-terrain vehicles, the Spyder three-wheeled motorcycle and Evinrude outboard motors.
BRP – formerly known as Bombardier Recreational Products – was spun off from parent Bombardier Inc. in 2003. Its three investors are private-equity group Bain Capital Partners Inc., members of the Beaudoin and Bombardier families and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec de depot.
Bertrand Marotte