MedQuist Holdings IPO Prices At $8 Per Share

NEW YORK (AP) - Shares of MedQuist Holdings Inc. started trading at $8 per share Friday, less than the medical transcription services company expected.

The company also reduced the size of its IPO. However the stock advanced $1.05, or 13.1 percent, to close at $9.05.

The Franklin, Tenn., company's IPO brought in gross proceeds of about $36 million. MedQuist Holdings sold 3 million shares for $24 million in gross proceeds, and stockholders sold another 1.5 million shares. Previously the company expected its IPO to include 7.8 million shares priced between $10 and $12 each.

The stock is now trading under the symbol "MEDH." The underwriters of the offering will have an option to buy another 675,000 shares in the next 30 days.

MedQuist Holdings handles medical transcription, billing, and coding services for about 2,400 hospitals, clinics, and practices in the U.S. The company changed its name to MedQuist Holdings from CBaySystems in late January.

MedQuist Holdings filed for an IPO in October. At the time, the company was called CBaySystems Holdings Ltd. It owns a 69.5 percent stake in medical transcription software company MedQuist Inc., and has agreed to acquire another 12.7 percent through a stock swap. On Thursday it started an exchange offer for all the remaining shares of MedQuist. The offer is scheduled to expire March 4.

MedQuist Inc. shares are already publicly traded, and the stock dropped 95 cents, or 9.5 percent, to $9.05 on Friday.

An affiliate of S.A.C. Private Capital Group LLC owned 47.8 percent of MedQuist Holdings shares before the IPO.

MedQuist Holdings earned $6.4 million, or 12 cents per share, in the first nine months of 2010, and reported $317 million in revenue.