Mistras goes public on NYSE, pricing below range

Princeton Junction, N.J.-based engineering services company Mistras Group (NYSE:MG) made its second IPO attempt today. But this time it went though despite its shares pricing at $12.50, below the expected range of $14 to $16 per share. 

The company's previous attempt at an IPO was unsuccessful last year because of the economic downtown.

Mistras sold 8.7 million shares yesterday to raise $108.8 million, below the $121.8 million to $139.2 million range for which it had hoped. Its stock was as high as $12.95 in early morning trading today.

According to Mistras, 6.7 million shares were offered by the company with the remaining two million shares coming from certain selling shareholders including Thayer/Hidden Creek and Altus Capital Partners.

Mistras conducts non-destructive infrastructure testing primarily for the energy market. The testing is done without interrupting production, Mistras said.

The company started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “MG” (see Chevron, P&G pony up for LS9's $25M round).

Founded in 1978, Mistras booked $209 million in sales over the past year. The company expects to use the IPO proceeds to repay debt and for general corporate uses, including working capital and potential acquisitions.

The announcement is in-line with comments from investors that cleantech IPOs are moving forward, but not flooding the public markets (see IPO flood or not?).

The success of the recent IPO from advanced battery maker A123Systems could trigger additional IPO filings in the fourth quarter, said Stephan Dolezalek, managing director and cleantech group leader at VantagePoint Venture Partners (see Back on track? Cleantech VC deals continue global growth and A123Systems up and climbing after Nasdaq debut).