6:15 PM New York – Primerica prices its initial public offering above the filing range and sold 20% more shares than anticipated. Primerica also sold 17.2 million shares to private equity unit managed by Warburg Pincus. The stock surged 31% on the first day of trading.

Primerica Inc (PRI) close up 31% to $19.65 on the first day of trading after Citigroup spinoff part of its insurance and mutual funds management operations.

Citigroup sold 21.4 million shares in the offering and had originally intended to price the stock between $12 and $14 and raised $320 million in gross proceeds.

The offering size was increased from 18 million shares. On the first day of trading 18.08 million shares changed hands, indicating that very few original shareholders kept the stock.

The parent Citigroup also sold 17.2 million shares to private equity funds managed by Warburg Pincus LLC at the offer price and warrants to buy additional 4 million shares.

Citigroup stake after the offering could drop as low as 39% and the bank said that it intends to sell the remaining stake permitting market conditions.

Primerica once the part of financial supermarket under Citi umbrella failed to provide the much hoped synergy.

The company has a life insurance unit and also sells mutual funds, variable annuities, loans and other financial products targeting middle income households.

Primerica relies on 100,000 independent advisors in North America and employs 2,000. The sales structure to use independent channel lowers the operating costs for the company.

According to the company Web site average commission earned by a licensed agent is $6,220.

Primerica, headquartered in Duluth, Georgia insures 4.3 million lives and 2 million clients maintain investment accounts with the company according to the information on the company Web site.

Citigroup held onto Primerica after it spun off its Travelers arm in 2002 as a separate insurance company.

Citigroup continues to divest its “non-core” businesses. Earlier, the bank sold its majority stake in the brokerage unit Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley.

2009 revenues are still 7% lower form 2007 revenues of $2.39 billion to $2.2 billion and net income are 17% lower than $594 million in 2007 to $494.6 million.

The weak performance in the last two years was linked to lower sale of investment products and lower commissions.

Primerica popularized term life insurance with the help of door-to-door sales in the late seventies and early eighties.