Not So Special: `Specialist' IPO Fails to Impress
A piece of the New York Stock Exchange went public yesterday; the bulls didn't stampede.</br></br>In fact, investors looking to the possible IPO of the entire Big Board itself hope it will make a bigger splash than yesterday's debut by LaBranche & Co., one of the pre-eminent Big Board floor-trading firms-so-called specialists -- and the first to complete an initial public stock offering.</br></br>LaBranche, the third-largest specialist firm, offered its shares Wednesday night at $14 each, below the expected price range of $15 to $17. The company had filed 11.5 million shares, but sold just 10.5 million. Not only is LaBranche the specialist firm in charge of trading such blue chips as AT&T and Exxon, it is a firm that is an integral part of the world's most-famous trading floor.</br></br>Specialists stand on the exchange's floor and match buyers and sellers of particular stocks and put up their own capital when necessary to ensure smooth trading.</br></br>But the small-capitalization LaBranche IPO finished its first day of Big Board trading yesterday up just 3.5% over the offering price at $14.50 -- not exactly a big splash in an era of skyrocketing "dot-com" issues.