Genworth subsidiary, Enact, begins trading publicly Genworth completes offering of stock in its mortgage insurance subsidiary, now trading on the Nasdaq

Shares of Genworth Financial Inc.'s mortgage insurance subsidiary are now trading publicly after the Henrico County-based company completed an initial public offering of stock in the business on Monday.

Genworth said it sold more than 15.3 million shares of common stock in the subsidiary, Enact Holdings Inc., at a price of $19 per share. That included the purchase by underwriters of more than 1.9 million shares.

Enact is now trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "ACT." The stock closed Tuesday at $20.01 per share, up 16 cents from its close the previous day.

The IPO allows Genworth, one of the Richmond region's largest private employers with about 850 local workers, to raise money to help pay off debts after the company earlier this year canceled its long-delayed plan to be acquired for $2.7 billion by a China-based investment company.

The company had postponed the stock offering in May because of market volatility in the mortgage insurance industry.

Enact, based in Raleigh, N.C., sells insurance covering home mortgage loan defaults. The business unit changed its name from Genworth Mortgage Holdings Inc. to Enact Holdings in early May when Genworth first announced plans for an IPO.

In addition to the public offering of stock, Genworth said certain investment funds managed by Bayview Asset Management LLC bought more than 14.65 million shares of Enact's common stock in a private sale at a price per share equal to the initial public offering price, less the underwriting discount per share.

Including the private sale, a total of more than 29.9 million shares were sold. Genworth said the net proceeds would be about $535 million, after fees and expenses.

Genworth is retaining an 81.6% ownership stake in Enact Holdings.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as lead book-running managers for the IPO.

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