The shares first traded at $2.62 compared with the IPO price of $2.20. They were last at $2.75, valuing the company at $402m.
Synlait Milk will use the $75m raised to repay debt and help fund construction of a new lactoferrin extraction and purification facility, an on-site blending and consumer packaging plant, a new dry store, a quality testing laboratory, a butter plant, and a new spray dryer, according to the prospectus. Existing shareholders took advantage of the sale to sell down their own holdings, raising $38.7m.
The shares first traded at $2.62 compared with the IPO price of $2.20.
The debut is comparable with that of the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund last November, where the units jumped 22% when they began trading. Companies coming to market since then have had a mixed performance. MightyRiverPower last traded at $2.37, below its $2.50 IPO price, while Wynyard Group was recently at $1.09 after selling in its IPO at $1.15.
Synlait has attracted foreign investment including China’s Bright Dairy & Food, which was diluted down to 39% in the float, Netherlands-based cooperative Royal FrieslandCampina with 7.5% and Japan’s Mitsui & Co on 8.4%. Managing director John Penno has 5.4m shares, or 3.7%.
“We are fully confident that as a trusted supplier of ingredients to some of the world’s leading milk-based health and nutritional brands Synlait Milk is on track to deliver value for all stakeholders now and into the future,” Penno said in a statement today.
© BusinessDesk 2013
Related story: Synlait to begin trading on Main Board
