Thursday, July 22, 2010

Green Dot Prices IPO, Starts Trading Today

Monrovia-based Green Dot, the provider of prepaid debit cards, priced its IPO at $36.00 per share Wednesday evening, above its initial expected IPO range of $32.00 to $35.00. The firm has said that it will not be receiving any of the proceeds of the offering. Shareholders are selling 4,558,050 of the stock, which is expected to start trading today on the New York Stock Exchange as GDOT. The IPO is being underwritten by J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities, Piper Jaffray & Co., and UBS Securities. The firm is backed by Sequoia Capital, the Tech Coast Angels, TTP Fund, and the Tech Coast Angels. One of the major benificiaries of the IPO is Walmart--Green Dot's biggest retail presence--which wrangled a significant chunk of stock in a contract renegotation with Green Dot prior to the IPO. The IPO also represents the most successful exit to date for the Tech Coast Angels, which seeded Green Dot.