* Shares close up 31 pct
* BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital among others underwriting the IPO
* IPO raises $133 mln
(Adds FleetMatics shares closing price)
By Neha Dimri
Oct 5 (Reuters) - Shares of FleetMatics Group Plc rose as much as 37 percent in their market debut as the company's niche software business stood out in an otherwise lackluster IPO market.
The Irish fleet management software provider had priced its initial public offering of 7.8 million shares at the high end of its expected price range of $15 to $17 each, raising about $133 million.
FleetMatics, whose rivals include Trimble Navigation Ltd , offers GPS fleet tracking software to small and medium-sized businesses that own fleets of commercial vehicles.
"It is a software services company, cloud based and a leader in a fragmented market. They have just started to make money and its revenue is based on subscription," said Francis Gaskins, a partner at IPODesktop.com.
As of June 30, the company had more than 16,000 customers, who use its software and services in 281,000 vehicles. Its subscription revenue rose 37 percent to $58.4 million for the six months ended June 30.
"Their market is small and medium-sized business, and the company isn't going after the big business. I don't see any other software company with that focus," Gaskins said.
FleetMatics, the portfolio company of Investcorp SA , sells its products under both the FleetMatics and SageQuest brands.
The company's strong debut comes after a string of poor performances in the IPO market this week.
Both Apollo Global Management-backed Berry Plastics Group Inc and theft protection services provider LifeLock
fell in their debuts, while dining and entertainment company Dave & Buster's Entertainment Inc withdrew its offering citing a volatile market.
BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, RBC Capital, Stifel Nicolaus and William Blair were the underwriters for FleetMatics' offering.
Shares of the Dublin-based company closed up 31 percent at $22.30 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched a high of $23.21 earlier in the day.
(Reporting by Neha Dimri in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)
((Neha.Dimri@thomsonreuters.com)(within U.S. +1 646 223 8780)(outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800)(Reuters Messaging: neha.dimri.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: FLEETMATICSGROUPPLC IPO/