Scottish Pacific jumps on ASX debut

The debtor finance group has sharply outpaced the benchmark on its first day of ASX trade.

Debtor finance group Scottish Pacific has received a warm welcome from traders on its ASX debut, jumping over 4 per cent in afternoon deals before paring gains by the close.

The group claims to be Australia’s largest independent debtor finance provider by turnover, with a string of acquisitions helping drive growth in recent years.

The positive debut follows strong support in the IPO process as private equity owner Next Capital was able to raise $293 million at $3.20 a share. The group will retain a 29 per cent stake in Scottish Pacific post-listing.

The raising delivered a market capitalisation of around $440 million, with this lifting to $460m during its market debut.

At the close of trade, the firm’s stock was trading at $3.35. It had climbed as high as $3.41 during the session, comfortably outpacing the broader market’s 0.66 per cent gain.