(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America's Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are selling shares in Uber Technologies to their high-net worth clients, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Shares in the car-booking technology company are being priced at about $49 a share, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. Merrill Lynch is restricting its sales to clients with a net worth of more than $100 million and is asking for a minimum purchase of $1 million, the person said. Morgan Stanley is requiring them to buy at least $250,000 in Uber shares, the person said.
Banks offer shares in many of the hottest private companies to investors who want to buy in before an initial public offering. Securities firms sometimes use these share sales to cement ties with nonpublic companies in the hopes of winning a prized underwriter spot in an eventual IPO.
Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Uber declined to comment. CNBC first reported that Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are selling shares to clients. Goldman Sachs, an early Uber investor, has previously sold convertible debt in the company to some of its private clients.
Bloomberg reported a financing round in December that valued Uber at $62.5 billion, which is more than about 80% of companies in the S&P 500. Uber has raised more than $10 billion since it was founded in 2009.
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