CORRECTED - WRAPUP 1-A123 soars in mixed day for IPOs

(Corrects Shanda IPO figure to $960 million in paragraph 2)

* A123 on track for more than 40 pct first-day pop

* Artio up 5 percent, Vitacost flat, REITs down

By Phil Wahba

NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A123 Systems Inc (AONE.O), a
maker of lithium-ion car batteries, soared nearly 43 percent in
its trading debut, the biggest gainer among five stocks that
came to market on Thursday in a strengthening IPO rebound.

With two more IPOs set to price on Thursday, including a
$960 million deal by Chinese online videogames maker Shanda
Games Ltd (GAME.O), the current week could see seven deals and
become the busiest since December 2007 for U.S. IPOs.

Four other initial offerings that began trading on Thursday
did not fare as well as A123, however, showing that investors
in the IPO market are still choosy.

"There a lot of excitement for the right deal in the right
sector," said Francis Gaskins, president of research firm IPO
Desktop. "But investors are looking at these on a deal by deal
basis. The floodgates have not reopened."

Of the other debuts, only Artio Global Investors Inc
(ART.N), the U.S. asset management arm of Julius Baer Holding
AG (BAER.VX), was up in early afternoon trading.
[ID:nN23405844]

Artio was up 5.2 percent on the New York Stock Exchange,
while online health supplement retailer and manufacturer
Vitacost.com Inc (VITC.O) was mostly unchanged on the Nasdaq,
after sliding as much as 9.4 percent.

In a sign that the strength in the IPO market is not
uniform, two mortgage REITs fell in their debuts after having
delayed and halved their IPOs earlier this week. Apollo
Commercial Real Estate Finance (ARI.N) was down 6.3 percent and
Colony Financial Inc (CLNY.N) was off 2.75 percent as mortgage
REITs met tepid demand from investors. [ID:nN23400754]

Foursquare Capital Corp FSQR.N, a mortgage REIT backed by
asset manager AllianceBernstein (AB.N) that was to price on
Thursday after markets closed, postponed its IPO indefinitely.

After starting at a 25.9 percent premium to their IPO price
of $13.50, A123 shares rose on the Nasdaq to as much as $20.20,
in a sign IPO investors are ready, in the right circumstances,
to embrace a company that has yet to make a profit.

Investors were drawn to A123 because every major global
automaker has plans to bring electric vehicles to the market in
the next two to three years, said ThinkEquity analyst Michael
Lew, who monitors the energy storage sector.

"It's a long-term play on the lithium-ion space," Lew
added.

Lew also said the warm reception of the IPO would encourage
other cleantech companies to tap the public markets.
[ID:nN23413572]

In addition to Shanda, hospital operator Select Medical
Holdings Corp (SEM.N) is scheduled to price after the close of
markets Thursday.
(Reporting by Phil Wahba, additional reporting by Poornima
Gupta; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)