Message #1 From:
NewsBot Date: November 15, 2006 02:32:00 PM
CEP News NYSE Arca Welcomes Constellation Energy Partners LLC as 2nd IPO since Launch Early This Year
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, NYSE Arcasm welcomed
Constellation Energy Partners LLC (NYSE Arca: CEP) as its 2ndIPO since launching its new listing platform for emerging issuers
early this year.
Constellation Energy Partners, which raised $94.5 million in its NYSE
Arca IPO, is the 20th exclusive listing on NYSE
Arca year-to-date. Constellation Energy Partners priced 4.5 million of
its common units representing Class B limited liability company
interests at the top end of the range, $21 per common unit. Completion
of the offering is expected to occur on Nov. 20, 2006.
Constellation Energy Partners is a limited liability company that was
formed in February 2005 by Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE: CEG).
It is an energy company focused on the acquisition, development and
exploitation of oil and natural gas properties, as well as related
midstream assets. Its assets consist primarily of producing and
non-producing coalbed methane natural gas reserves located in the
Robinson’s Bend Field in the Black Warrior
Basin of Alabama. Constellation Energy Partners joins the NYSE Group as
the 21st energy company listing in 2006.
The total market capitalization for all NYSE Group energy listings to
more than $3.1 trillion.
Based on market capitalization, more than 96% of the qualified domestic
energy-related stocks are currently listed on NYSE Group, where energy
company listings represent a total market capitalization of more than
$3.1 trillion.
Energy company listings on NYSE Group in 2006 include Helix Energy
Solutions (NYSE: HLX) with a market cap of $3.04 billion; Penn West
Energy Trust (NYSE: PWE) with a market cap of $6.1 billion; CNX Gas
Corporation (NYSE: CXG) with a market cap of $4.1 billion and VAALCO
Energy, Inc.
NYSE Arca (formerly ArcaEx) is a fully electronic stock exchange that
provides an open and fair market for emerging companies. NYSE Arca’s
broader eligibility requirements allow smaller companies that do not yet
meet New York Stock Exchange listings standards to join the NYSE Group
of listed companies–and ultimately gain
visibility opportunities and investor access not previously available to
them. Among the first companies exclusively listed on this new platform:
Darwin Professional Underwriters (NYSE Arca: DR) which joined NYSE Arca
as an IPO in May; BFC Financial Group (NYSE Arca: BFF) which joined as
the first transfer from Nasdaq; Evergreen Energy Inc. (NYSE: EEE) which
joined as the first transfer from American Stock Exchange; and 15
exchange traded funds (ETFs) listed on NYSE Arca in October when
Barclays Global Investors (BGI), a worldwide leader in ETFs, transferred
the listings of its iShares ETFs from the AMEX.
In the NYSE Arca market model, listed issuers participate in the
selection of a “Lead Market Maker”
responsible for maintaining tight spreads and providing the opportunity
for price improvement. NYSE Arca has captured a 21% (in the third
quarter of 2006) of trading in Nasdaq stocks by providing excellent
market quality, as measured by its superior effective spreads and speed,
a 2.8% increase from the previous year.
NYSE Arca listing standards extend the NYSE’s
current focus on providing a listing and trading venue for quality
companies.
Background:
Growth companies have the opportunity to list on NYSE Group for the
first time on NYSE Arca. This gives issuers –
both domestic as well as non-US companies -- an alternative listing
venue, while enabling NYSE Group to compete for smaller-sized
companies that previously did not qualify for the NYSE.
On June 8, 2006, NYSE Arca achieved a new all-time record in daily
trading volume with 1.49 billion shares traded, representing $55.0
billion. On April 27, NYSE Arca volume surpassed 1.0 billion shares
traded for the first time. Including this milestone, NYSE Arca volume
exceeded 1 billion shares 13 times during the second quarter.
