May 13 (Reuters) - Emergency medical services heavyweight GMR Solutions was valued at $3.01 billion after its shares fell 10% in its New York Stock Exchange debut on Wednesday, adding to a string of subdued listings in recent weeks.
The Lewisville, Texas-based company's shares opened at $13.50 apiece, compared with the $15 offer price. It sold about 31.9 million shares in its initial public offering (IPO) to raise $478.7 million.
GMR, better known as Global Medical Response, had slashed its IPO price
on Tuesday, selling shares well below its initial marketed range of $22 to $25 apiece.
Analysts say the recent uptick in IPOs remains somewhat precarious, with investors still cautious on valuations and happy to pass over less-exciting offerings.
"Highly leveraged companies like this rarely see a strong first-day pop. When investors don't see a company with strong growth and sentiment, they fall back on valuation," said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs.
"Investors want to see clear upside before committing. This is especially true now. The second-quarter rally baked in hopes that the Iran War would end soon. So I think the lack of progress over the past week is making investors nervous."
GMR, formed in 2018 by combining investment firm KKR's portfolio companies Air Medical and American Medical Response, provides emergency medical services and out-of-hospital care across roughly 1,400 U.S. counties.
The company supports nearly 5.5 million patient encounters annually with about 34,000 employees, it said.
GMR completed a $5.4 billion refinancing last year and exited some contracts to focus on its core operations and boost profitability. It had about $5 billion in long-term debt as of December 31.
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das, Vijay Kishore and Jonathan Ananda)
