SYDNEY, July 3 (Reuters) – Shares in Australian chemicals trader Redox Ltd opened slightly below its issue price as the country’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) this year debuted on the Australian Stock Exchange on Monday.
The company raised A$402 million (US$267.29 million) by selling its shares for A$2.55. Shares fell 2.3% to A$2.49 in the first 30 minutes of trading, underperforming the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index, which was up 0.25% at 02:32 GMT on Monday.
The tepid performance dampened hopes that a strong performance by Redox could help revitalize Australia’s sluggish stock markets. Sales of new shares have fallen to their lowest level in 14 years, according to Refinitiv data.
According to the data, there have been $26.4 million worth of IPOs (excluding redox) in Australia so far this year, compared to $493.1 million in the same period last year.
The 94% fall in Australian IPOs outpaced the 28.5% fall in issue valuations seen across Asia-Pacific, including Japan, in the first half.
The IPO gave Redox a market capitalization of AUD$1.3 billion and its share price was at the lower end of the range shown to investors when the bookbuilding started in early June.
Domestic airline Virgin Australia is expected to raise AUD$1 billion later this year, most likely in November, in what would be Australia’s biggest IPO in almost three years. ($1 = 1.5040 Australian dollars) (Edit by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jamie Freed)
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