Virgin Mobile USA went public today at $15 per share. The shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VM.
Shares went up slowly, hitting $15.62 by mid-day.
Of the total 27,500,000 shares sold in the offering, 25,467,160 shares were sold by the company, while the remaining shares were sold by certain stockholders. Virgin Mobile has said it will largely use proceeds to repay debt and to buy out 16.7% of Sprint Nextel's interest.
The company was founded by Sprint Nextel and Richard Branson's Virgin Group.
Lehman Brothers was lead manager and book runner for the offering.
With the current economic climate, wireless operators face shrinking marketing budgets and reduced consumer spending.
Globally, the credit crunch is very much alive, and operators will be tightening their belts into the foreseeable future by putting off capital purchases.
