Infonet Shares Go for $21 in Initial Offering

Infonet Services Corp. of El Segundo and its shareholders raised nearly $1.1 billion on Wednesday by selling 51.3 million shares at $21 in its initial public offering--making it one of the biggest IPOs ever for a Southland company.

The sale came at the top of the $18-$21 range the company used to canvass investor support. The stock will start trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol IN; it also will trade on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The sale values the company at about $9.9 billion.

Infonet, originally a unit of Computer Sciences Corp., provides services to more than 1,150 multinational companies. They include Internet access, remote access, consulting and Web hosting. The company said it plans to use the IPO proceeds to develop its network infrastructure.

Merrill Lynch & Co. and Warburg Dillon Read managed the sale.