Travelocity owner Sabre rises 3 percent in IPO

SOUTHLAKE, Texas (AP) -- Shares of Sabre Corp. rose over 3 percent in their stock market debut Thursday after an initial public offering that valued the travel software company at more than $3.9 billion.

Sabre owns online travel company Travelocity and sells software and services to airlines, hotels and travel agencies that help them buy and sell flights, rooms and tours. It started as the reservations department of American Airlines, which spun it off in 2000. Private equity firms TPG and Silver Lake bought Sabre in 2007 for $4.5 billion and took it private. Those two firms will keep nearly 80 percent of Sabre's common stock.

The Southlake, Texas, company raised $627.2 million after pricing 39.2 million shares at $16 each. It had expected to offer 44.7 million shares between $18 and $20 each. It plans to use proceeds to pay down debt.

Its shares are listed on the Nasdaq stock market under the ticker symbol "SABR."

They rose 50 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $16.50 in morning trading Thursday while the broader markets edged higher.