(Bloomberg) -- PTT Oil & Retail Business Pcl, the retail unit of Thailand’s biggest energy company, jumped in its trading debut after raising about $1.57 billion in the country’s biggest initial public offering in almost one year.
Shares climbed as much as 50% to 27 baht before trading at 24.10 baht as of 10:04 a.m. in Bangkok. The company sold 2.61 billion shares to the public at 18 baht, the top end of the marketed price range. The company also has a so-called greenshoe option of 390 million shares.
PTT Oil becomes the third mega Thai IPO in the past year after Central Retail Corp.’s record $2.5 billion offering in February last year and SCG Packaging (NYSE:PKG) Pcl’s $1.3 billion share sale in October. PTT Oil’s IPO drew more than 500,000 subscriptions from retail investors, the highest ever booking by number of investors, according to the company’s statement.
Equity offerings have been proving exceedingly popular of late, with many companies popping on their debuts. Ultra-low interest rates and expectations of more stimulus have stoked a stock rally and boosted demand for share sales, while leading some to warn of frothy markets.
The Thai stock exchange’s daily trading turnover averaged about 94 billion baht ($3.14 billion) so far this year, a 50% jump from the same period a year earlier, boosted by new retail investors, according to the bourse’s data.
Last week Chinese short-video app Kuaishou Technology surged 161% on its debut in Hong Kong, the second-best ever for an IPO of over $1 billion. About one of every five people in the financial hub submitted orders for shares, a record number.
Plentiful cash and coronavirus-induced lockdowns have led to an increase in retail trading globally, which has contributed to some volatile stock moves as seen with GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME)., as well as hugely oversubscribed share sales.
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