Instinet's
plans for going public are finally in. The New York-based electronic brokerage, a unit of media company
Reuters
(RTRSY)
, hopes to raise $450 million through an initial public offering, according to a filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
.
Instinet plans to use the proceeds from the offering to repay about $200 million in debt owed to Reuters. The rest of the proceeds will go to general corporate purposes, including working capital, capital expenditures and possible acquisitions and investments in other companies.
Instinet, which has applied for a
Nasdaq
listing under the symbol "INET," hired
Credit Suisse First Boston
and
Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown
to lead its IPO.
Reuters, which is based in London, will retain a majority stake in Instinet, which last year
abandoned plans to make
Instinet.com
a separate equity trading service, amid a slowing online trading market.
Shares of Reuters lately lost $1.06, or 1.2%, to $90 in morning trading on the Nasdaq.
