Napier Port debuts at 12% premium as investors welcome rare NZX listing (updated)

Cannasouth

20/08/2019 02:00

* Stock hits boards at NZ$2.91 vs NZ$2.60 IPO price
    * Plans to use proceeds to reduce debt, fund new wharf
    * Second listing on NZX this year, ending two-year IPO
drought

 (Adds background on IPO, Hawke's Bay Regional Council's stake)
    By Aditya Soni
    Aug 20 (Reuters) - Napier Port Holdings  NPH.NZ , the
operator of New Zealand's fourth-largest port by container
volume, debuted at a 12% premium to its offer price on Tuesday.
    The company, whose port is located on the south coast of New
Zealand's North Island, hit the boards at NZ$2.91, giving it a
market cap of NZ$582 million. The stock was trading at NZ$2.95
by 2351 GMT, compared with an offer price of NZ$2.60 a share. 
    Napier Port raised NZ$234 million earlier this month, after
pricing its offering at the top end of a NZ$2.27 to NZ$2.60
range in an over-subscribed bookbuild.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N25A4V4
    It plans to use the proceeds from the listing to reduce debt
and fund the construction of a new wharf to increase the Napier
facility's capacity.
    Napier Port is the second company to list in New Zealand
this year, following the smaller float of cannabis firm
Cannasouth  CBD.NZ  in June, which had ended a two-year IPO
drought on the NZX. 
    The dearth of new floats has attracted shareholder
criticism, forcing the bourse to take remedial action, including
a partnership with Nasdaq Inc  NDAQ.O  in 2018 to attract
overseas investors.
    

 (Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr
and Jane Wardell)
 ((Aditya.Soni@thomsonreuters.com; +91 80 6749 1130;))