Spain's Allfunds surges on Amsterdam debut in IPO market boost

By Julien Ponthus and Abhinav Ramnarayan

LONDON (Reuters) -Spanish fund distribution firm Allfunds' shares jumped more than 10% on their Amsterdam debut, in a boost to an IPO market dented by last month's disastrous Deliveroo listing.

Allfunds is among the biggest IPOs in Europe this year so far, along with the completed listings of Deliveroo and Vantage Towers, Vodafone's towers business.

Friday's listing is a big win for Amsterdam, which has emerged as an early beneficiary after Brexit dented London's spot as the IPO venue of choice for European companies.

At 0715 GMT, Allfunds' stock was up 12.8% at 12.97 euros on Euronext, having briefly risen above 13 euros. The surge in Allfunds shares came in an otherwise flat market, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index losing 0.1%.

Allfunds had priced its initial public offering (IPO) at 11.50 euros per share, giving the company a valuation of about 7.2 billion euros ($8.7 billion) after this month announcing plans to float 25% of its shares on the Dutch bourse.

Although the European IPO market enjoyed its best quarter since 2015 in the first three months of 2021, with $19.55 billion raised, a disappointing debut by Deliveroo in London amplified concerns around whether this momentum can last.

Several IPOs in the United States also underperformed in recent weeks, while crypto trading app Coinbase is down sharply from the price at which it made its direct listing in New York last week.

Initially, Allfunds had set a price guidance of 10.50-12 euros per share, which would have given it a valuation of up to 7.553 billion euros. But it pared that down in a nod towards a more selective and cautious IPO market.

"We weren't going to push pricing more than is natural and investors reacted positively to that decision," a source familiar with the transaction said.

"There's not much hot money in the market at the moment, though that does not mean investors are not being very engaged on assets they really like," he added.

Funds affiliated with private-equity owner Hellman & Friedman, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and lenders Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas are among shareholders who are selling shares as part of the Allfunds IPO.

Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, Citi and Morgan Stanley were global coordinators.

($1 = 0.8300 euros)

(Reporting by Julien Ponthus and Abhinav Ramnarayan;Editing by Alexander Smith)