MEMPHIS – Verso Paper Corp. announced Tuesday that it has closed its initial public offering of 14 million shares of common stock at a price of $12 per share.

The company previously anticipated offering more than 18 million shares at an opening price of between $16 and $18 per share, which would have raised close to $300 million for the company.

Although the stock was offered at $12 per share when it became available Thursday, it opened at $10 and traded as low as $9.23 and as high as $12.01 during the first day of trading. In trading Tuesday, Verso stock closed at $10.46 a share, up 21 cents, or about 2 percent. Verso stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol VRS.

The IPO was lower than initially anticipated, Verso Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Robert Mundy said Tuesday. Mundy noted there were several factors that affected the IPO price and volume, including quarterly earnings reports from other companies in the paper industry and the general economic climate. The volatility in the energy markets and the overall market environment were factors in the response to the IPO, he said.

“We did get it done,” he said. “We’re happy to have that to build upon going forward.”

Based on the reduced offering, the company expects the net proceeds from the IPO to raise about $153.3 million, which it will use to repay debt and related prepayment fees, according to Mundy.

“We want to concentrate on getting the debt down,” he said. “That will be our focus this year.”

Meanwhile, on the heels of the IPO, the company last week posted $4 million in net earnings during the first quarter of 2008.

“This was a record quarter for us,” Mundy said.

That reflected improvements not only in operations and production, but also in pricing, he said.

“We’ve had four price increases since June ’07,” he said. “The last one was in April so that’s not included in the March numbers.”

Companywide cost reductions also have contributed to the positive bottom line.

Verso reported total revenues of $453.9 million in the first quarter of 2008 compared with $359.8 million during the same period last year, an increase of 26 percent. Net sales from the company’s coated and supercalendered papers segment – which includes Verso’s two Maine mills in Bucksport and Jay – increased to $404.9 million during the first quarter from $314.8 million in 2007. The increase reflects a 14.8 percent increase in paper volumes and a 12 percent increase in average paper sales prices for the first quarter in 2008 compared with 2007.

Operating income during the first quarter was $30.6 million compared to an operating loss of $2.3 million last year. The net income of $4 million compared to a net loss of $29.9 million during the first quarter in 2007.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.