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Mask Maker GVS Surges in Milan Debut After $558 Million IPO

Mask Maker GVS Surges in Debut After $558 Million IPO in Milan

GVS SpA, which makes biohazard masks and filter components for ventilators, gained as much as 18% in its Milan trading debut as investors bet on its business being boosted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The stock rose 19% to 9.68 euros a share at 9:59 a.m. on Friday after the company raised about 497 million euros ($558 million) in its initial public offering at 8.15 euros a share. There was enough demand for six times the shares on offer in the IPO, according to the pricing statement.

“It is a ‘Made in Italy’ champion,” said Antonio Amendola, portfolio manager at Acomea Sgr SpA, adding that GVS offers important diversification to the domestic market as a life-sciences company. “It is a strategic business for our country,” he said, continuing that it attracted a lot of international investors, which could help drive visibility of several Italian listings coming up in the near term.

GVS is only the second IPO this year on the Milan bourse, where 11 companies went public over the same period last year, and its largest since payments company Nexi SpA’s $2.3 billion float in April 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Some initial public offerings in Europe are popping in their debuts, as demand for businesses that have withstood the recent downturn drives up new stocks, with participation by retail investors on the rise. Coffee giant JDE Peet’s BV opened 11% higher after its 2.3 billion-euro listing, while video-conferencing company Pexip Holding AS shot up 43% in its debut trade.

Demand for new stocks is heightened as investors are sitting on large cash piles, with the market rally in already-traded stocks largely seen as “overdone,” said Colin McLean, chief investment officer at SVM Asset Management.

The Scagliarini family, which includes Chairwoman Grazia Valentini and her son, Chief Executive Officer Massimo Scagliarini, sold 51 million shares in the offering, generating proceeds of 415.7 million euros. The company sold 10 million shares, for proceeds of 81.5 million euros. The family, which owned the company outright before the offering, granted underwriters the option to sell another 9 million shares, which would raise the size of the IPO to 570.5 million euros and give the company a market value of 1.43 billion euros

Europe’s market for IPOs was virtually shut as the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns wreaked havoc on corporate balance sheets and share prices through March. In recent months, listing activity has started to pick up again, but only for companies that have demonstrated strength during the downturn. GVS is part of an even rarer cohort of companies that have grown as a direct result of the outbreak, as demand for masks and health-care filtration products has soared.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Mediobanca SpA were joint global coordinators on GVS’s IPO. Lazard Ltd. is the financial adviser.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.