Och-Ziff offering raises $1.15 billion

Hedge fund operator Och-Ziff Capital Management Group sold $1.15 billion worth of shares to the public, giving the firm a $10-billion stock market value.

In their first day of trading Wednesday, the New York-based firm’s shares fell to $30.65, down $1.35, or 4.2%, from their offering price of $32 a share.

Och-Ziff, which manages $30 billion in assets, was founded in 1994 by former Goldman Sachs trader Daniel Och and the Ziff publishing family.

Concurrent to the offering, Dubai International Capital and a subsidiary bought a 9.9% stake in Och-Ziff for about $1 billion.

Since its inception, the company has earned for investors an average annual return of 16.6% but in recent years has trailed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

The fact that the firm “went out and raised $2.2 billion from Dubai and the public and created a lot of buzz when performance was lower than the S&P; means they are great salesmen,” said Francis Gaskins of research firm IPOdesktop.com.