KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 4): Dairy producer Farm Fresh Bhd was the most bought new listing by local institutional investors in the third quarter of 2022 (3Q22) up to Sept 29, according to Bursa Malaysia.

"They added RM40.4 million of Farm Fresh shares to their portfolios, thus narrowing local institutional net fund outflow to RM36.5 million (for Main and ACE Market listings) year to date (YTD)," said Bursa in its initial public offering (IPO) performance report for 3Q22.

Khazanah Nasional Bhd-backed Farm Fresh was listed on the Main Market on March 22 at RM1.35 a share. Farm Fresh, which raised RM1.1 billion from its IPO, is Malaysia's largest IPO since June 2021.

Farm Fresh's stock is up 19% from its IPO price of RM1.35, trading at RM1.60 as of the time of writing on Tuesday (Oct 4). At the current share price, the company is valued at RM2.97 billion.

In the quarter under review, Bursa also pointed out that LGMS Bhd attracted RM24.4 million of foreign inflow, making the cybersecurity services provider the most net bought IPO counter by foreign investors YTD.

The ACE Market-listed LGMS, which raised RM45.7 million from its listing on June 8, was trading at RM1.09 at the time of writing on Tuesday — 118% higher than its IPO price of 50 sen per share. Its market capitalisation stood at RM501.6 million.

Bursa said 11 companies and one real estate investment trust (REIT) made their debut on the capital market in 3Q22, with a combined market cap of RM2.32 billion and RM769.43 million being raised via new issues, offers for sale and pre-listing funds.

These brought the total number of new listings to 27 companies and one REIT as of end-September. Market cap from new listings totalled RM7.05 billion, with RM2.88 billion in funds raised.

The 23 new listings on the Main and ACE Markets closed at an average of 54% premium over their list prices YTD. The six technology companies commanded the highest average price increase of 159%. Price gain of the healthcare IPO grew from 21% as of end-June 2022 to 90% as of Sept 29, lifted mainly by the new listing of UmediC Group Bhd, added Bursa.