Newmark Group’s initial public offering opened today on the Nasdaq stock exchange at $14.00 per share, lower than the original $19 to $20 per-share range the company had originally projected.
Newmark offered 20 million shares of Class A common stock, with an option for underwriters to purchase additional shares.
Howard Lutnick’s BGC Partners, which bought Newmark Knight Frank for an undisclosed sum in 2011, will own 85.3 percent of Newmark’s Class A common stock at closing, or roughly 83.4 percent if the underwriters exercise their full option.
Newmark CEO Barry Gosin, who rang the opening bell alongside Lutnick, called the day “a pivotal moment” for the company.
“I couldn’t be more excited about where we are going. I certainly know where we came from, which we’ll never forget,” he said. “But where we are going is incredibly exciting.”
Newmark began as a family firm in 1929, and in 2005 the company formed a partnership with London’s Knight Frank. After BGC acquired the firm, it combined the company with multifamily lender Berkeley Point Capital under the Newmark Group umbrella.
The IPO is expected to close on or around Dec. 19. – Rich Bockmann