Rows of various types of tea are seen inside a DavidsTea store.Tibor Kolley/The Globe and Mail
DavidsTea Inc. begins trading publicly for the first time today on the Nasdaq stock market following a successful initial public offering by the Montreal-based chain of tea stores.
The shares were priced late Thursday at $19 (U.S.) per share, $1 above the high end of the company's estimate of between $17 and $18 per share.
With at least 5.1 million shares sold by the company and its shareholders, and a further 765,000 available to underwriters at the same price, the IPO would generate up to $111.4 million from investors before expenses.
DavidsTea has said it would use its share of the proceeds to repay debts to its shareholders and lenders.
Money that's left over will be used for business activities, which includes 161 stores and an online sales operation.