Australian pension services company Link Group priced its initial public offering at the top of its target range, IFR reported, raising A$947 million ($682.79 million) and confirming its place as the country's biggest listing of the year.
The result suggests that investors have not given up hope on a stock market which has steadily fallen in 2015, pressured by global economic concerns, causing several other companies to cancel or defer planned initial public offerings.
Link is selling 42 percent of the company by issuing up to 162.5 million shares. It closed a bookbuild pricing the shares at the top of the target range of A$6.37 each, giving it a market capitalisation of A$2.3 billion, Thomson Reuters IFR reported, quoting sources close to the deal but not authorised to comment publicly.
Australian shares have fallen 3 percent so far in 2015, prompting billions of dollars worth of IPOs to be cancelled or held back until trading conditions improve. The company behind the biggest IPO of the year to date, software maker MYOB Ltd, is trading below its issue price.
The Link Group IPO marks a hefty return for its owner, private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners. It formed Link from the registry business of the Australian Securities Exchange and fund manager Perpetual, which it bought for A$132 million in 2005 according to media. It has since sold down its holding to roughly half.
Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Macquarie and UBS were the lead managers on the IPO.
