Notable IPOs

A few of the well-known companies that went public in 1996 in initial public offerings. Year-end 1996 closing price per share in parentheses:

* Sabre Group Holdings, the reservation system of American Airlines’ parent AMR Corp., on Oct. 11. Shares trading on the New York Stock Exchange rose 17% the first trading day, to $31.625 from $27. That meant the 23.2 million shares offered raised $626 million. Sabre planned to use most of the IPO money to pay off its $850-million debt to AMR. ($27.88)

* Guess? Inc., the high-profile fashion sportswear maker, on Aug. 8. Shares traded on the NYSE were flat. The offering had been twice delayed and the company reduced the sale to 7 million shares from an originally planned 9.2 million, and trimmed the price to $18 a share from original estimates of $21 to $23. ($14.38)

* Donna Karan International, a high-profile fashion house, on June 28. Investors bid up the company’s shares by about 17%, rising above its offering price of $24 a share to $28 on the NYSE. The IPO consisted of 10.75 million shares sold to the public, about half the company’s stock, which brought in $258 million. ($14.13)

* Excel Communications, a long-distance telemarketer, on May 10. Priced originally at $15, Excel’s stock opened at $27, rose as high as $33.125 and closed at $29.375 on the NYSE. The company issued 10 million shares, about 9% of its 107.5 million total, giving it a market value of $3.16 billion the first day. ($21.13)

* Planet Hollywood, the trendy restaurant chain co-owned by Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and other stars, on April 19. The company initially planned to offer shares at $14 to $16 each, but raised the price to $18. The company sold 10.8 million shares to pay off $130.8 million in debts to institutional investors. ($19.75) * Yahoo, the Silicon Valley company that provides a user-friendly way to search for information on the World Wide Web, on April 12. The stock was priced at $13 before the sale, opened at $24.50, rose as high as $43 and closed at $33 on the Nasdaq exchange. The company issued 2.6 million shares, or 10% of its total 25.7 million. ($17)

* Lucent Technologies, a communications equipment company that was part of AT&T;, on April 4. The sale on the NYSE represented the largest IPO of a U.S. company. Lucent’s 112 million shares were initially priced at $27 each. The stock reached $32 before closing at $30.625 the first day. ($46.25)