Z Energy shares debut at 6.6pc premium

Z on Friday announced the issue price would be $3.50 a share, raising $840 million. Photo / Dean Purcell

Shares in Z Energy debuted on the NZX at $3.73, a 23-cent (6.6 per cent) premium to their $3.50 issue price today.

Z Energy's co-owners Infratil and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund last week sold 60 per cent of the service station chain in what brokers said was a well-supported initial public offer, which was priced in the middle of a $3.25 to $3.75 indicative price range.

Infratil and the Super Fund will each reap $420 million from the sale.

Z Energy will be New Zealand's first listed transport fuels distribution company and will be among the top 20 New Zealand companies on the NZX.
Infratil and the NZ Superannuation Fund bought the company - which represented Shell's downstream New Zealand assets - in 2010 for $696.5 million.

Z Energy's debut will take place in a generally buoyant market which has seen the benchmark NZX-50 index gain about 25 per cent over the last year.

Not all the NZX's latest debutant's have traded strongly. Mighty River Power shares last traded at $2.24, well down from their issue price of $2.50. Moa, the tiny brewing company, traded at 85c, compared with last year's issue price of $1.25.

Dairy sector stocks have fared better. Shares in the Fonterra Shareholders Fund units, which last changed hands at $6.94 each, continue to trade at a big premium to their $5.50 issue price, as does Synlait Milk, which traded at $2.76 compared with a $2.20 share issue price.

The partial privatisation of state-owned South Island power generator, Meridian, is expected to occur later this year.