(Bloomberg) — Bats Global Markets Inc.s initial public offering may value the second-largest U.S. stock exchange operator at as much as $2.1 billion, more than double the expected valuation in its first attempt four years ago.
The company will sell 11.2 million shares in a price range of $17 to $19, according to an updated filing on Monday. The firms value has jumped from the estimated $760 million at the time of its aborted 2012 listing. Bats will list its own shares under the ticker BATS.
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Bats begins itsroadshowfor the offering as soon as this week, according to a person familiar with the plans. Although its already April, Bats would be one of the first U.S. IPOs of 2016. Stock-market volatility and investor unease reduced the number of companies willing to list their shares in the first quarter.
The Lenexa, Kansas-based securities market withdrew a previous listing because an error in trading software stopped its shares from opening properly. The company has expanded since then by moving into markets including foreign exchange andoptions. It has become the biggest pan-European stock exchange. And it now lists exchange-traded funds.
The $2.1 billion valuation would make the market operator the 17th biggest globally by market capitalization. Batss stockholders have the option to sell another 1.68 million shares, which would increase the size of the sale to 12.88 million shares, according to the filing.
Bats was formed more than 10 years ago by a consortium of financial institutions to rival the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market in technology, speed and pricing. It is the biggest U.S. stock-exchange operator behind NYSE. Its owners include JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., KCG Holdings Inc. and Citadel LLC.
The companys listing would be Batss first, potentially opening up a new line of business for the exchange operator and giving it an opportunity to compete with NYSE and Nasdaq.
The company has a heritage of cutting-edge technology. The time it takes for Bats to process an order message has decreased 94 percentto 57 microseconds from more than 930 microseconds in January 2007. It has 286 employees globally.
Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. are the lead underwriters.
