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 | | Thursday, 28 March, 2002, 14:31 GMT Autoroutes' shares race on debut  ASF: Europe's second biggest motorways group Shares in France's largest motorway operator, Autoroutes du Sud de la France (ASF), raced 12.7% upwards on their first day of trading. The toll road company's debut was likely to be one of the largest flotations in Europe this year, analysts said. The French government has sold off a 49% stake in ASF to raise about 2bn euros ($1.7bn; �1.2bn) in the biggest flotation in Europe since last December. The company's highways handle more than half a billion paying cars a year. The firm has covered southern France in wide, fast roads since 1997 when it launched an ambitious plan to double its domestic network in 10 years. The flotation aimed to raise funds to complete the task without adding to the toll-operator's huge debts. Stocks off the blocks? Investors are hoping ASF's debut represents the start of a racier environment for stock offerings, which have stalled since the dot.com crash and last year's global economic slowdown.
"We have been through the worst and activity is picking up. But this is a steady improvement rather than a surge," one banker told the Financial Times newspaper. The flotation was 19 times oversubscribed confirming there is an "appetite for new issues," said Adrian Darley of Gartmore Investment Management. The shares opened at 26 euros - above the offer price - on the Euronext index and were up 12.7% by 1035 GMT. The debut valued ASF at 5bn euros, making it the second biggest road operator in Europe after Autostrade of Italy. Steady business Part of the motorway operator's attraction to wary investors was that it is duller than a dot.com - with an easily-understood, not to say concrete, business plan and steady, if unexciting cash flow, analysts said. The French government sold the 49% stake in ASF to boost its pension reserves. The government's pension funds suffered from the crisis of confidence in hi-tech firms after the sale of third generation mobile phone licences failed to net as much money as expected. | |
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