VMWare Inc. says IPO underwriters exercise overallotment

NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Software maker VMware Inc. (VMW.N) said late on Tuesday that underwriters of its initial public offering had exercised an overallotment option to buy an additional 4.95 million Class A shares.

The shares, in addition to VMWare's 33-million share offering, are to be bought at the company's IPO price of $29 per share.

VMWare's shares soared about 76 percent in their market debut on Tuesday, gaining $22 to close on the New York Stock Exchange at $51 per share, as investors jumped into what they think is the next big thing in computing: virtualization technology.

Prior to the VMWare offering, the top-performing U.S.-listed IPO was Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG.N), which climbed 67.6 percent on its Feb. 8 market debut.

On Monday, EMC Corp. (EMC.N), VMWare's parent and the world's biggest maker of corporate data storage gear, sold 33 million class A shares to the public. That accounts for about 9 percent of the 375 million shares of common stock in VMware.

Underwriters of the offering included Citigroup (C.N) JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N), Lehman Brothers LEH.N, Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. MER.N and Deutsche Bank Securities.

(Reporting by Lilla Zuill, editing by Valerie Lee; +1 646 223 6000; Email: Lilla.Zuill@reuters.com))