By Matt Jarzemsky | The Wall Street Journal
Shares of homebuilder Taylor Morrison Home Corp. rose in their initial public offering, the latest sign of investor demand for plays on the U.S. housing rebound.
Shares opened at $23.35 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, up 6.1% from their initial public offering price of $22.
The company is selling 28.6 million shares, not including extra shares allotted to the deal’s underwriters. That is 20% more than previously planned, plus the offering priced late Tuesday at the top end of its expected range.
Rising home prices and sales volume are providing a solid backdrop for newly issued shares of homebuilders after a long drought. Since shares of builder TRI Pointe Homes LLC TPH -1.53% came to market in late January, making it the first home builder to go public since 2004, the stock’s price has risen 16%. William Lyon Homes, LWHS +17.13% which constructs and markets single-family homes in the West and Southwest, filed for an IPO Tuesday.
Shares of already public builders have rallied the past year as many investors continue to see the home market as a bright spot of the economy. PulteGroup Inc., PHM -1.29% the second-biggest U.S. builder by annual closed sales, has led the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index the past 12 months with a 151% gain.
Taylor Morrison is backed by private-equity firms TPG Capital LLC, Oaktree Capital Management LP OAK +1.23% and JH Investments Inc., which bought Taylor Morrison from U.K. builder Taylor Wimpey TW.LN +2.97% PLC in 2011.
Credit Suisse Group AG CSGN.VX +4.74% and Citigroup Inc. C +2.89% served as Taylor Morrison’s lead underwriters.
