Shares of Nanofilm Technologies International surged above their initial public offering (IPO) price in the firm's mainboard debut yesterday, in Singapore's biggest non-Reit listing in recent years.
The stock closed up 32 cents or 12.4 per cent at $2.91 from its IPO price of $2.59, having reached as high as $3.02. A massive 106.5 million shares changed hands, about 16 per cent of the 658.4 million shares listed.
Its IPO met with strong demand from institutional and retail investors by its close on Wednesday. The Singapore public offer to retail investors was about 30.6 times subscribed, drawing 8,678 applications for 118 million shares for a total of $305.7 million in application cash, the company said on Thursday. Only 3.9 million shares are available to the public.
The 73.4 million international placement shares available to investors outside the United States drew indications of interest for about 1.68 billion shares, making it about 22.9 times covered.
The offering - public and placement tranches - was 23.3 times subscribed by its close on Wednesday, assuming an over-allotment option is not exercised.
The Singapore public offer and international placement shares at $2.59 apiece came from existing shareholders of the company, Dr Shi Xu, Mr Lee Liang Huang and Dr Wei Hao.
Separately from the offering, 13 cornerstone investors - including Temasek's Venezio Investments, Aberdeen Standard Investments (Asia), AIA Investment Management and Lion Global Investors - have subscribed for about 104.3 million shares worth $270 million. They represent a 15.8 per cent stake in the company after the completion of the offering as well as the issuance and sale of the cornerstone shares.
Some retail investors were disappointed by the small size of the offer available to them. The IPO's retail tranche accounted for just 2 per cent of the overall $470.1 million raised. Market observers told The Business Times the small public offer was warranted, given the lack of local benchmarks to gauge the success of the IPO.
The company - which makes advanced materials and nanoproducts for the consumer electronics, communications and automotive industries - will have a market value of about $1.9 billion.
Dr Shi, its executive chairman, said: "As the first nanotechnology solutions provider to list in Singapore, this is a strong vote of confidence for our group and a recognition of our established track record and growth plans."
