Pharmaceutical and cosmetics chain Matas opened its first day of trading Copenhagen Stock Exchange to a warm welcome by investors. By mid-afternoon Matas shares worth around 500 million kroner had been traded.
When trading opened to the public this morning, Matas had 12,000 new shareholders owning shares valued at 115 kroner a piece, giving the company a value of 4.7 billion kroner. Within half an hour it had reached a high of 124.5 kroner which by the afternoon had settled at around 120 kroner.
The stock’s popularity was clear even before trading began, however. After the chain announced in late May that it would be going public, it put 21,000,000 shares up for pre-sale starting on June 21. Sales of the 20 percent of shares available to private Danish investors were due to close on Thursday, but instead wound up being sold out on Monday.
“We are very proud of the massive interest we have experienced from both private and institutional investors in Denmark and from foreign institutional investors,” Matas managing director Terje List stated in a press release. “We regard it as a strong expression of trust in our business model and future plans.”
CVC Capital Partners bought a majority share of the 293-store chain in 2007 for 5.2 billion kroner.
Matas has performed well in recent years and increased its turnover 200 million between 2010 and 2012 to 3.2 billion kroner, which resulted in a 336 million kroner profit.
Matas started in 1949 when independent pharmacies merged to form the chain. It now has more than 2,400 employees.
