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easyJet soars in debut
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November 15, 2000: 5:22 a.m. ET
British budget airline reaches for the sky after IPO values carrier at $1.1B
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LONDON (CNNfn) - No-frills British airline easyJet PLC saw its shares rise in its debut on the London Stock exchange Wednesday, lifting the firm's market value to £854.7 million ($1.2 billion).
Shares in easyJet soared 10 percent to 341 pence in early trading from an initial public offering price of 310 pence.
Europe's second-largest low-cost airline sold 63 million new shares, raising about £195 million to buy new aircraft. The carrier priced its IPO earlier Wednesday near the middle of its previously published range of 250 pence to 350 pence, valuing itself initially at £777 million.
"The IPO is a significant milestone for easyJet and will allow us to maximize our growth potential by helping fund our planned new Boeing 737-700 purchases," chairman and founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou said in a statement.
The carrier has the option to increase the number of shares offered by up to 9.45 million.
EasyJet competes in the budget-flights market with Ireland's Ryanair PLC (RYA), British Airways PLC's (BAY) subsidiary Go, and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines unit Buzz.
Easyjet and Ryanair have modelled themselves on U.S. low-cost airline Southwest Airlines Inc. (LUV: Research, Estimates) by regularly undercutting larger carriers' airfares. Their flights are typically between less frequented airports, where they can operate more cheaply than at major hubs. 
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easyJet
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