SAP-owned Qualtrics valued at over $15 billion in IPO

(Reuters) – Qualtrics International Inc was valued at over $15 billion in its initial public offering, against the backdrop of a capital market frenzy that has seen investors flock to technology stocks.

The survey-software seller, owned by German business software giant SAP SE, said on Thursday it raised about $1.55 billion in its upsized initial public offering.

Qualtrics sold about 51.7 million shares priced at $30 each, it said in a regulatory filing. The company had earlier aimed to sell 50.4 million shares at $27-$29 each.

SAP agreed to buy Qualtrics in November 2018 for $8 billion, just as Qualtrics was getting ready for an IPO.

In an interview last year, SAP Chief Executive Officer Christian Klein said floating the unit had been the only way to keep on board the Qualtrics leadership team led by founder Ryan Smith, who was unsettled by the departure of SAP’s American co-CEO, Jennifer Morgan.

Revenue of Provo, Utah-based Qualtrics, which gathers real-time feedback from customers to help analyze how a firm’s products or services are performing, rose about 32% to $550 million in the nine months ended Sept. 30.

Net loss also narrowed to $258 million during the period from $860.4 million a year earlier, as existing customers bought upgrades and as Qualtrics acquired new customers.

Qualtrics’ shares are due to start trading on Thursday on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “XM”.

Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan are the lead underwriters for the offering.

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