HONG KONG â€" Shares in Suntory Beverage and Food rose Wednesday morning in the closely watched trading debut of the biggest new share offering in Asia this year.
Shares in the food and non-alcoholic beverage unit of Japanese conglomerate Suntory Holdings were trading at 3,160 yen apiece by mid-morning in Tokyo, up 1.9 percent from their initial public offering price.
Suntory Beverage and Food raised 388 billion yen, or $3.96 billion, on June 24 when it priced its I.P.O. at 3,100 yen per share â€" near the bottom of the deal’s marketed range of 3,000 yen to 3,800 yen per share.
The modest rise in Suntory’s shares on Wednesday compared with a gain of about 8 percent in Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 share index in the week since the I.P.O. was priced. At mid morning Wednesday, the Nikkei was down about 0.3 percent from Tuesday’s closing level.
Around th world, investors’ appetite for new listings has waned in recent weeks as markets have been rattled by concerns over a cash crunch in China and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s comments on plans to reduce its bond-buying.
Last week, two companies planning listings in Hong Kong were forced to postpone or downsize their offerings, while in the United States, a pair of I.P.O.’s were forced to price below the marketed range because of weak demand.
That Suntory’s deal was able to get out the door was partly a tribute to investor support for the company’s plans to use the proceeds to pay for overseas acquisitions. It also comes as new signs emerge that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s battle against deflation in Japan may be making progress by stoking long-dormant consumer demand.
Suntory’s I.P.O. ranks as Japan’s, and Asia’s, biggest such offering in 2013. It is also the second-largest global offering so far this year, behind BB Seguridade Participacoes’s $5 billion I.P.O. in Brazil, priced in April, according to financial data and services provider Dealogic.
