Australia's largest IPO of 2023, Redox, opens slightly lower on debut (updated)

Redox

03/07/2023 03:35

(Updates prices and adds context on IPOs this year in
paragraphs 3-7)
    By Lewis Jackson and Scott Murdoch
       SYDNEY, July 3 (Reuters) - Australian chemical
distributor Redox Ltd's  RDX.AX  shares opened slightly below
their issue price as the country's largest initial public
offering (IPO) this year debuted on the Australian Securities
Exchange on Monday.
    The firm raised A$402 million ($267.29 million) by selling
its shares at A$2.55. Shares slid 2.3% in the first 30 minutes
of trading to A$2.49, underperforming the benchmark S&P/ASX200
 .XJO  index, which was up 0.25% at 0232 GMT on Monday.
    The tepid performance will temper hopes that a strong
performance by Redox could help revive Australia's flatlining
equity capital markets. New share sales have fallen to a 14-year
low, according to Refinitiv data.
        There were $26.4 million worth of IPOs in Australia so
far this year, not including Redox, down from $493.1 million at
the same time last year, the data showed.
        The 94% decline in Australian IPOs outpaced the 28.5%
fall in issuance valuation that occurred across the Asia-Pacific
region, including Japan, in the first half.
    The IPO gave Redox a A$1.3 billion market capitalisation and
its shares were priced at the low end of the range flagged to
investors when the bookbuild launched in early June.
        Domestic airline Virgin Australia is expected to raise
A$1 billion later this year, most likely in November, which
would be the largest IPO in Australia in nearly three years.
($1 = 1.5040 Australian dollars)

 (Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jamie Freed)