Mexico's Esentia prices shares at 45 pesos per share in IPO

By Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Raul Cortes

MEXICO CITY, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Mexico's Esentia Energy Development priced shares for its initial public offering at 45 pesos ($2.45), the company said on Thursday, below the previously indicated range of $2.70 to $3.90 per share.

Shares of the Mexican energy company were trading around 50 pesos ($2.72) at midday, up more than 10% from the IPO price of their stock market debut.

The offering included 224 million shares, of which 72.25 million were placed in the Mexican local market and 151.75 million in an international offer, Esentia said in a statement.

Esentia, which focuses on the transport and commercialization of natural gas, had said that funds generated will be used to finance its expansion plans and to partially repay some debt.

Of the total, the company sold 186 million new shares through the primary offering, while an anonymous shareholder sold 38 million shares in a secondary placement.

BBVA Mexico, one of the global coordinators for the offering, said the IPO raised about 11.59 billion pesos ($631 million) after the full exercise of the over-allotment option.

Investor demand reached around 1.5 times the size of the base deal, with roughly 41% of the shares allocated in Mexico and 59% internationally, the bank said in a statement.

Esentia operates more than 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) of pipelines, known as the Waha or Wahalajara System, which transports low-cost natural gas from Waha, Texas, to major industrial centers in central-western Mexico.

($1 = 18.3724 Mexican pesos)