The shares of a split Telecom - into New Chorus and New Telecom - debuted on the New Zealand stock exchange yesterday, both trading well as investors topped up their holdings.
Telecom shareholders got one New Chorus share for every five existing Telecom shares they held.
New Chorus opened at $3 per share, then moved up to $3.27 in afternoon trading, with more than three million shares changing hands, while New Telecom opened at $1.97, with more than 10 million shares changing hands.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said New Chorus shares performed "strongly" and New Telecom shares "fairly well".
Because shareholders got only one New Chorus share for five existing Telecom shares, the volumes were most likely underpinned by investors taking the opportunity to "top up" their portfolio.
While New Telecom, at $1.97, was trading 50c lower than Telecom shares previously had, Mr McIntyre believed shareholders should be pleased with the outcome of the split.
He said overseas investors and institutional investors would most likely have already quit their Telecom holdings, as some analysts suggested yesterday's volumes may have been based on those parties exiting.
Under the Government's ultrafast broadband and rural broadband initiatives, New Chorus will build a fibre network for about 830,000 premises, which is about 70% of the programme, deploying about 20,000km of fibre optic cable by 2020.
Forecast trading ranges
Craigs Investment Partners
New Chorus $3.50 to $4.20
New Telecom $1.80 to $2.10
Forsyth Barr
New Chorus $4.25 to $5.50
New Telecom $1.40 to $1.90
