(Bloomberg) -- Sportradar Group AG opened its U.S. trading debut at its initial public offering price and fell from there, giving the sports data provider a market value of $7.3 billion.

The company sold 19 million shares for $27 each to raise $513 million after marketing them for $25 to $28. After opening trading Tuesday at the IPO price, the shares fell as much as 10% and were down 8.2% to $24.78 at 2:22 p.m. in New York trading.

A $159 million private placement was also set to take place with the IPO, according to the company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Based in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Sportradar decided on an IPO after the collapse of talks to go public through a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Sportradar had held talks with Horizon Acquisition Corp. II, a blank-check company started by Eldridge Industries co-founder Todd Boehly.

Dual Track

Sportradar had been “running a dual track from the very beginning,” founder and Chief Executive Officer Carsten Koerl said in an interview.

“There was an inflection point where I had to decide in the interest of the company, shareholders and management, which way should we go,” Koerl said. “Obviously today, I think, shows very clearly it was not such a bad decision.”

Boehly stood at the podium as Koerl rang the opening bell Tuesday. Boehly’s Eldridge was an investor in the the private placement, according to Sportradar’s filings.

“Todd is an outstanding person -- understanding sport, being a multiple team owner,” Koerl said. “It’s exactly that kind of network and the kind of people which we need and which I need to build a better business.”

Koerl controls almost 82% of the voting power in the company after the IPO, according to its filings. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is the company’s largest outside investor, while Revolution LLC veteran Evan Morgan’s Radcliff also owns a stake, according to the filings. 

Jordan, Cuban

Backers of the company also include retired basketball star Michael Jordan and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.  

The company has over 150 sports league partners and provides data to more than 900 sports betting operators, including DraftKings Inc., which also went public through a SPAC, and Fanduel. 

Sportradar reported revenue of 272 million euros ($322 million) during the first six months of 2021, compared with 192 million euros for the same period last year. Its profit declined to about 18 million euros from 20 million euros during the same period last year, according to the filing.

The offering was led by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and UBS Group AG. Sportradar’s shares are trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol SRAD. 

 

(Updates with CEO’s comment in fifth paragraph)

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.