eToro Underwriters Exercised Stock Options “In Full,” Brought Another $93M

eToro (Nasdaq: ETOR) has raised $403 million from its initial public offering (IPO). The underwriters exercised their stock options “in full” at a price of $52 per share, buying 1,788,452 shares, meaning around $93 million came from them.

Big Names Exercised Their Stock Options

The public offering was led by underwriters Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, UBS and Citigroup, along with a long list of other banks: Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Cantor, Citizens Capital Markets, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Mizuho, TD Securities, Canaccord, Moelis, Needham, Rothschild and Susquehanna.

However, the $403 million figure does not account for underwriting discounts, commissions, or estimated offering expenses. In the amended IPO prospectus, eToro stated that it expects to net $370 million after deducting all costs and fees.

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A Bumper IPO

eToro offered around 12 million shares in its IPO, half of which were newly issued and the other half sold by existing shareholders. The 1.78 million shares of options granted to the underwriters were in addition to the public offering.

At $52 per share, the company raised about $310 million, while the existing shareholders received another $310 million. However, the underwriters charged $3.12 per share as underwriting discounts and commissions, taking away roughly $37.2 million.

After the underwriting deductions, the company and shareholders each received about $291.4 million. The $93 million from the underwriters’ options exercise went directly to the company, not to the existing shareholders.

“We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditures,” the IPO prospectus noted. “We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to make acquisitions or investments, although we do not have agreements or commitments for any material acquisitions or investments at this time.”

eToro had a strong public listing earlier this week. The company's shares debuted on the exchange with a premium of about 29 per cent. However, the share price fell on the second day, likely due to profit-booking.

The Israeli company’s IPO attracted heavy demand, as the bookrunners had to close the order book after it was oversubscribed ten times. Following the strong demand, the company also raised the IPO price to $52 per share from the previously set range of $46 to $50. The broker’s market cap reached around $5.5 billion at market close on Thursday.