Rosetta Stone, a leading provider of language learning software, raised $112.5 million by offering 6,250,000 shares at $18.00, above the range of $15.00 to $17.00. The stock is expected to begin trading on the NYSE on Thursday under the symbol "RST". Morgan Stanley and William Blair acted as lead managers on the deal.
Rosetta Stone is the first IPO to price above its proposed price range since pump and value supplier Colfax (CFX) raised $338 million nearly one year ago (May 2008). Rosetta also marks the second company to go public in as many days (online university Bridgepoint Education successfully raised $142 million on Tuesday), making this week the most active week for IPOs since August of 2008 when data hosting provider Rackspace (RAX) and Chinese ad agency China Mass Media (CMM) made their respective public debuts.
