Pac-West soars in debut

Pac-West (Nasdaq: PACW) blasted up 93 percent in its debut Thursday, after the regionalized provider of telecommunications services, including Internet access and paging, priced shares at the low end of their range.

Shares were up 9 1/4 to 19 1/4, after the company priced shares at $10 each, the bottom of an estimated $10-$12 price range. The company provides its services to medium and small sized businesses in the western United States.

Bear Stearns is the lead underwriter for the offering of 12.6 million shares, Banc of America and First Union Capital are co-managers.

The company netted $30.9 million in revenue for the 6 months ended June 30, compared to $19.9 million for the comparable six months in 1998. Pac-West also narrowed its losses to $804 000 compared to $3.3 million lost in the 1998 period.

The company faces competition from incumbent local exchange carriers in its target markets, and from long distance carriers, such as AT&T, MCI WorldCom and Sprint.