KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Karex Berhad, the world's top condom producer, surged more than 30 percent in its trading debut Wednesday on Malaysia's stock exchange, following a 125 million ringgit ($39.2 million) initial public offering to bolster its market share.
Karex shares jumped to 2.45 ringgit (77 cents), up 32 percent from its IPO price of 1.85 ringgit (58 cents).
Karex, which has two manufacturing plants in Malaysia and one in Thailand, said it would use the IPO proceeds to double its current production capacity to 6 billion pieces a year by the end of 2015. It hopes this will help raise its global market share from 10 percent now to 20 percent by 2016.
Analysts say the global condom industry is expected to expand 7.5 percent annually to 30.4 billion pieces by 2016.
Karex, a family-run business established in 1988, supplies to commercial customers with well-known brands such as Durex as well as government agencies and non-governmental organizations.
