(Adds details throughout, with company statement)

By Echo Wang

NEW YORK, June 6 (Reuters) - Waystar, a private

equity-owned provider of software that helps hospitals and

doctors' practices manage their finances, has raised $968

million in its initial public offering, the company said on

Thursday.

The IPO of 45 million shares was priced at $21.50 a share,

Waystar said. The pricing, which was in the middle of its

indicated range, gives Waystar a fully diluted valuation of

$3.69 billion.

Reuters reported the pricing earlier based on sources.

The progress in Waystar's IPO shows the market for new

listings remains open after aluminium recycler Novelis pulled

its stock market debut that would have raised as much as $945

million earlier this week.

Novelis blamed "adverse market conditions," but sources

close to the IPO effort said its owner, India's Hindalco

Industries, could have gone ahead.

Companies have raised more than $15 billion this year via

IPOs on U.S. exchanges, according to Dealogic, up sharply from

about $9.1 billion at this point last year, the data show.

Waystar's major shareholders are buyout firm EQT

, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and

alternative investment firm Bain Capital. Following the IPO,

EQT, CPPIB, and Bain will own about 29.2%, 22.3%, and 16.8%

respectively.

Waystar was formed in 2017 through the merger of

Navicure and ZirMed. The company develops payment software

helping clients such as large hospital systems with the

collection of bills from patients.

It reported a net loss of $51.3 million on revenue of $791

million for 2023, compared to a net loss of $51.5 million on

revenue of $705 million in the previous year.

The company was valued at $2.7 billion in 2019 when

Swedish private equity firm EQT and CPPIB acquired a majority

stake in the company from Bain Capital.

Under EQT and Canadian pension giant CPPIB's ownership,

Waystar has gained scale by acquiring some of its competitors,

including eSolutions in 2020, which boosted its presence in the

lucrative government health insurance market for the elderly,

known as Medicare.

The company now works with 1 million healthcare providers

and handles more than 2.5 billion transactions annually,

according to its website.

Waystar will list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under

the symbol "WAY", with its shares expected to start trading on

Friday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co ( JPM ), Goldman Sachs Group ( GS )

and Barclays are the lead underwriters for the IPO.