American Water Goes Public
American Water's initial public offering of 58 million shares of common stock was priced at $21.50 per share. All of the shares were offered by the selling stockholder, RWE Aqua Holdings GmbH, and net proceeds will go to RWE. American Water's shares began trading on April 23, 2008, on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "AWK."
The selling stockholder granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 8.7 million additional shares of common stock. After the initial public offering, and assuming no exercise of the underwriters' option, the selling stockholder is expected to own approximately 64 percent of American Water's shares.
Goldman, Sachs & Co., Citi, and Merrill Lynch & Co. are acting as joint book-running managers in connection with the offering.
Founded in 1886, American Water is the largest investor-owned U.S. water and wastewater utility company. With headquarters in Voorhees, N.J., the company employs nearly 7,000 professionals who provide drinking water, wastewater, and other related services to approximately 15.6 million people in 32 states and Ontario, Canada.