Shares of Guzman y Gomez Ltd., a Mexican-themed fast-food chain, jumped 36% in their first day of trading in Australia, marking the country’s best debut in years.
The stock ended at A$30 ($27.06) in Sydney on Thursday. The shares were sold at A$22 apiece in an initial public offering that was enlarged to A$335.1 million. They posted the biggest gain for an Australian IPO debut larger than US$100 million ($135.3 million) since 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Guzman y Gomez’s debut injects some activity in Australia’s market for new share sales, which has hosted only three IPOs topping US$100 million over the past two years. It’s the nation’s biggest since chemical distributor Redox Ltd. nearly one year ago, Bloomberg-compiled data show.
“There are quite a few IPOs that have been in the pipeline, but because of low confidence,” investors have been hesitant, said Jun Bei Liu, a portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners in Sydney. Guzman y Gomez’s debut performance may encourage IPOs slated for later this year to list sooner, she said.
Prior to Guzman y Gomez, companies that started trading in the country over the past five years after IPOs that raised at least US$100 million rose by an average 4.4% in their inaugural session, the data show.
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Barrenjoey Markets Pty Ltd. and Morgan Stanley Australia Ltd. were joint lead managers in the offering.
