Wednesday Dec 25, 2024
Wednesday Dec 25, 2024
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| Prime Lands Group Chairman Brahmanage Premalal |
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| CSE Chairman Dumith Fernando |
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| Acuity Partners Group Managing Director and CEO Ray Abeywardena
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The latest debutant at the Colombo stock market Prime Lands Residencies Ltd. (PRL) yesterday defied overall bearish investor sentiments by producing stellar maiden trading.
On debut, PRL saw 48.36 million changing hands via 9,485 trades for Rs. 614.34 million. It closed at Rs. 11.90 up by Rs. 1.50, or 14.5%, from its IPO price of Rs. 10.40. Intra-day it touched a high of Rs. 14.90, reflecting a whopping 43% gain. Volume wise, PRL accounted for 50% of the day’s trading and 31% of the turnover.
PRL’s stellar debut outshined the market which closed negative. The success follows the IPO, offering 20% stake or 187.5 million shares at Rs. 10.40 each and raising Rs. 1.95 billion, being oversubscribed on its official opening day last month. The issue attracted 2,323 applications requesting shares worth Rs. 2.25 billion, of which Rs. 1.99 billion was requested by retailers. The IPO’s manager and financial advisor was Acuity Partners. The CSE invited PRL to ring the bell symbolically to inaugurate trading yesterday.
Speaking at a virtual platform, CSE Chairman Dumith Fernando congratulated PRL on the special occasion.
“Today marks the listing of a company in the real estate sector. This sector is underrepresented on the market capitalisation of the CSE. That makes this listing special, as Prime Lands Residencies is coming to the market very successfully,” Fernando said. Prime Lands Residencies was the third listing this year, each of them raising their full fund-raising goal within the first day through oversubscription.
“This proves the resilience and the robustness of the CSE as a venue for capital raising. I wish Prime Lands Residencies all success in the future and hope we see a very positive post-listing performance,” the CSE Chief added.
Prime Lands Group Chairman Brahmanage Premalal welcomed the new shareholders to the company, adding: “I believe that there is no better way of welcoming our shareholders into the organisation than by achieving an oversubscription on the very first day of the issue.”
He said going public was a significant milestone for any business and that Prime Lands Residencies was very proud about this achievement. He thanked the SEC, CSE, Acuity Partners and investors for their support and confidence.
“We shall take every measure to fulfil the expectations of our shareholders and work with transparency, trust, confidence and professionalism to provide them with the best returns that they anticipate,” Premalal added.
Acuity Partners Group Managing Director and CEO Ray Abeywardena, said PRL is indeed a success story that is legendary, started by two entrepreneurs over 25 years ago.
“The organisation has grown to be a powerhouse in the real estate industry. It is a most respected entity having won many accolades and achievements. The IPO was a tremendous success. This was at a time when we were heading for the lockdown given the increase in the pandemic,” Abeywardena added. “I’m confident that Prime Lands Residencies will deliver on the projections that they have put forth.”
Abeywardena also said the PRL IPO set a new record for the number of online applications (52% of the total) received.
