SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Aztech Global began its trading debut at $1.37 on the Singapore Exchange's (SGX) mainboard on Friday (March 12), 7 per cent or $0.09 above its initial public offering price (IPO) of $1.28 per share.

The company was also among the most active counters on SGX during early trading.

As at 9.13am, the counter was trading at 0.7 per cent or $0.01 below its opening price to $1.36, with some 14.7 million shares changing hands.

Aztech on Thursday evening announced that the public tranche of its IPO had been subscribed some 18.4 times; it received 4,143 valid applications for about 64.42 million shares, out of the 3.5 million shares available to the public for subscription.

Its placement shares were also subscribed some 16.4 times, having received indications of interest for 1.06 billion placement shares, of the 64.62 million available.

Based on the invitation price of $1.28 and post-invitation share capital of 773.72 million shares, Aztech's market capitalisation stands at about $990.4 million.

The net proceeds due to the company, at $188.6 million, will be used for purposes such as the expansion and enhancement of its manufacturing facilities, enhancement of its research and development capabilities, and exploring further growth in the IoT (Internet of Things) market, as well as business expansion through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), for instance.

Mr Jeremy Mun, executive director and chief operating officer of the company, earlier told The Business Times in an interview that through M&A, the group hopes to strengthen its market position and "expand to new areas that are complementary to (its) existing business", such as companies in the field of precision engineering.