Onyx Pleased by Public Response to Stock Offering

The first day of public trading in Onyx Acceptance Corp.’s stock left its managers enthused, though it didn’t engender the frenzied buying and selling and the soaring prices that marked other recent initial offerings by Orange County companies.

Onyx, a specialized consumer finance company, opened at $11.75 a share on the Nasdaq market system and closed at $12.75, up from the price to underwriters of $11.50. About 2.5 million shares changed hands.

“It’s exactly what we anticipated,” said Brian MacInnis, Onyx’s chairman.

The offering raised $28.75 million, of which Onyx will receive $26.7 million. The company will use $19.6 million of the proceeds to pay off debt securities and loans.

The 2-year-old company was formed by executives who left Westcorp Inc. in Irvine, which operates one of the nation’s biggest automobile financing units along with its Western Federal Savings Bank.

The Onyx offering represents 42% of the company’s 6 million shares outstanding. Crosspoint Venture Partners in Newport Beach, a venture capital company, is the single biggest shareholder with a 12.5% stake. MacInnis and other executives own a combined 20%, with MacInnis owning the largest stake, 7.7%.

Onyx, which has six California branches, plans to open an office in Phoenix next week.

Since August, six other Orange County companies that have gone public have seen their stock price soar--sometimes more than doubling--on the first day of trading.