London might be struggling to find new companies to list but there seems to be no such problems for the Frankfurt stock exchange.
Medical vials maker Schott Pharma raised almost €1 billion and saw its shares rise by a healthy 11% premium in first dealings today.
Issued at €27, shares had risen to €30 in morning trades with dealers saying there had been good demand in the post-IPO market.
Schott specialises in vials used for injectable drugs but has been around making medical bottles for more than 100 years.
Sales in the first nine months of fiscal 2023 were €670 million with underlying profits of €187 million.
Based in Mainz, Germany, Schott supplies vials for the mRNA-based covid jab vaccines produced by BioNTech and Moderna though it now has production and sales bases across 33 countries.
Ahead of the float, which valued the group at €4.1 billion, Schott raised around €810 million in new money equivalent to 23% of the enlarged share capital.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is a cornerstone investor.
While listings in Frankfurt have been rare this year and dominated by Porsche’s float, Schott’s success might prompt more firms to try their luck, said brokers.
Defence group Renk is poised to list next week, while on-road payments firm DKV Mobility might be soon after that.
"The good thing is that investors were convinced that our strategy was the right one," Schott Pharma chief executive Andreas Reisse told Reuters.
"It's also an important step for Schott Pharma to have access to capital markets - it was a motivator to have the same possibilities as other competitors that are also listed."