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Amsterdam • Shares in the lighting division of Dutch electronics giant Philips have soared, early on their first day of trading on the Amsterdam exchange.
The price for Friday's initial public offering was set at $22.36 per share, giving the newly independent unit a market capitalization of $3.3 billion, but investors quickly drove the price up more than 7 percent to $23.97.
Philips was selling at least 25 percent of shares in its lighting unit in the IPO, which the company said was "multiple times oversubscribed."
Philips, which started life in 1891 making carbon filament lamps, announced earlier this month that it planned to spin off its iconic lighting division so it can focus on its future as a health technology provider.