European Wax Center Inc was valued at $1.2 billion after shares of the hair removal salon chain rose 12 percent in its Nasdaq debut on Thursday.

Shares of the company, backed by private equity firm General Atlantic, opened at $19 on Thursday, compared with the initial public offering price of $17.

The Plano, Texas-based company sold 10.6 million shares of its Class A common stock in the IPO, raising about $180.2 million. Of the shares sold, roughly 1.68 million shares were offered by existing investors.

As of March 27, the company had over 808 locations across 44 states, of which five are corporate-owned centres while the rest are franchisee-operated.

It generated over $469 million in system-wide sales in 2020, representing an over 30 percent drop year-over-year due to temporary centre closures caused by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

General Atlantic will continue to have a controlling interest in the company through affiliates and managed accounts, holding about 54.5 percent of the combined voting power.

Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and Jefferies were the lead underwriters for the offering.

By Sohini Podder and Niket Nishant; Editing by Aditya Soni

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