Nymex Prices Offering

Shareholders of the New York Mercantile Exchange(NMX Quote) plan to raise $955 million in a second stock offering of 7 million shares.

The energy futures and commodities exchange priced the offering late Wednesday at $136.50 a share. Shares of the Nymex fell $1.41 early Thursday to $135.29.

Nymex's stock was one the hottest initial public offerings last year. The stock soared 125% on its first day of trading after the company raised $384 million by selling 6.5 million shares. Shares have risen 132% off the IPO price of $59 a share.

Since its debut, the exchange has been busy bulking up. Last month it announced that it has purchased a 10% stake in the Montreal Exchange, a Canadian derivatives exchange. In January, Nymex agreed to purchase a 19% stake in Optionable(OPBL Quote), a provider of natural gas and other energy derivatives brokerage services.

Nymex's majority shareholder, General Atlantic, which owns 9% of the stock, has granted the underwriters the option to purchase an additional 1 million shares of common stock to cover overallotments.

Nymex will not receive any of the proceeds from the second offering, it says.

The offering is expected to close on March 27.