Malaysia's Felda soars 19% in world's 2nd largest IPO

Felda, world's third-largest palm oil operator, raised $3.1 bn in Asia's biggest IPO this year

Shares of Malaysia's Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd jumped as much as 19.3 percent in its debut on Thursday as the $3.1 billion initial public offering (IPO) overcame a slump in stock flotations globally.

A string of Asian IPOs have been delayed or scrapped in recent weeks as investor worry about Europe's debt crisis and China's slowing economy, as well as Facebook's botched listing in May.

Shares of Felda, the world's third-largest palm oil company by acreage, opened up 18.5 percent to 5.39 ringgit a share by compared with their reference price of 4.55 ringgit.

Within a few minutes of trading starting, the stock was up 19.3 percent at 5.43 ringgit per share. The benchmark Kuala Lumpur stock index was flat.

 

The listing is the world's second-largest so far this year after Facebook.