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Shares in aircraft components maker Montana Aerospace (AERO.S) soared nearly 18% on its debut on the Swiss bourse on Wednesday, giving it a higher-than-expected market capitalisation of about 1.4 billion Swiss francs ($1.5 billion).

The Austrian-Swiss company, whose customers include Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA), saw its shares rise to 30.60 Swiss francs ($33.16) in early trading, well above a list price of 25.65 Swiss francs.

The increase added roughly 200 million francs to the company’s estimated pre-float value of 1.2 billion francs.

The initial public offering raised approximately 440 million francs which Montana said it would use to fund acquisitions and organic growth in the aero industry that has been hard hit by the coronavirus. It issued 17.1 million new shares.

Assuming the full exercise of an over-allotment option that could boost proceeds to a total of 506 million Swiss francs, the company will have a free float of 41.8%.

Montana Tech Components, currently the sole owner, will remain the majority shareholder with a stake of 58.2% following the listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

Montana Tech Components, owned by Austrian billionaire Michael Tojner, will receive 66 million francs from the selling an extra 2.6 million shares it holds if the over-allotment option is used.

The IPO is the second in Switzerland this year following the float last month of contract drugmaker PolyPeptide Group (PPGN.S).

Montana Aerospace wants to use 60% of the proceeds for acquisitions in the highly fragmented aviation sector which has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Boeing 737 MAX safety crisis.

The remaining 40% will fund organic growth, important as customers want to deal with less complicated supply chains in future.

“With the listing on SIX, we return to our Swiss roots and strengthen the financial resources to successfully continue our strategic course,” said Chief Executive Markus Nolte.

Berenberg Bank acted as global coordinator and joint bookrunner, while Commerzbank (CBKG.DE) and Zuercher Kantonalbank (ZKB.UL) were joint bookrunners in the IPO.

($1 = 0.9047 Swiss francs)

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