Chapman Capital Management Holdings Inc. raised about $5.5 million yesterday in an initial public offering.

The Baltimore-based investment company, which is the parent of the Chapman Co., a full-service brokerage, said it sold 865,791 shares at $7 each in the offering.

Shares hit $8 before falling back to $7 at the close on the Nasdaq small-cap market, in trading of 397,800 shares.

In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it planned to use $1.6 million of the proceeds from the IPO to create new investment products, $1.2 million to expand sales and marketing efforts, and $1 million to "promote strategies" for Chapman Holdings' mutual funds, such as its Domestic Emerging Markets closed-end mutual fund, which are based on investing primarily in shares of businesses owned by minorities and women.

Chapman Holdings announced in July that it would seek shareholder approval in September to close and liquidate the Domestic Emerging Markets fund because its stock is trading at a steep discount to the value of the assets in its portfolio.

Nathan A. Chapman Jr., chief executive officer of Chapman Capital Management Holdings, could not be reached yesterday.

Pub Date: 8/15/98