Corel Stock Falls Short In IPO Launch

The first day of trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange ended with shares of the Canadian company selling for $15.85 each. During the day, prices ranged from $16.10 to as low as $15.35 per share. In after-hours trading, the stock slipped further to $15.80.

Corel, which is selling 5 million shares, hopes to receive about $69 million by the time the offering ends on May 2. The company plans to use the proceeds to repay outstanding debt and for general corporate purposes.

Morgan Stanley underwrote the stock offering, which included an additional 1.5 million shares sold by shareholders.

This is the second time Corel has been a public company. The software maker was taken private in August 2003 after it was bought by Vector Capital Corp., a San Francisco investment firm.

Corel, which says it has an installed base of more than 20 million users, sells productivity, graphics and digital-imaging software. The company, however, has primarily worked in the shadows of it far larger rivals, Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc.