Zim Integrated Shipping Services staged a small rally on its second trading day on Friday after the stock collapsed 23% upon completion of its initial public offering.
The Israeli liner company's shares were hanging just above the $12 mark in the last hour of trading, a gain of about 4.6% from Thursday's close of $11.50.
The New York Stock Exchange newcomer lost more than $400m in market value on Thursday as investors sent the stock into free fall from the $15 IPO pricing.
Zim had to accept a pricing below its target range of $16 to $19 and a reduced shares count sold to investors in order to sell the deal on Wednesday, but it still got credit for becoming the first mainstream shipowner to close a New York IPO since Gener8 Maritime in June 2015.
But on a strong overall day for all market indices on Thursday, investors fled the new listing, sending it spiralling down 20% in just the first hour of trading.
Zim traded 6.4m shares on the initial day and was closing in on 1.4m in today's action.
At the $12 mark, the owner has a market capitalisation of roughly $1.4bn, making it one of the bigger public shipowners listed in New York even after Thursday's losses.
Elsewhere in the containership space, tonnage lessor Costamare of Greece was up 1.4% to $8.16, Danaos up 8.6% to $27.01 and Atlas down 1% to $11.31.
The three major stock indices — the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq — all were having a tough day, down about 1.4% each.
In its draft prospectus, Zim said it intends “to use the net proceeds from the offering to support long-term growth initiatives, including investing in vessels, containers and other digital initiatives, to strengthen its capital structure, to foster financial flexibility and for general corporate purposes”.
A global, asset-light container liner, Zim is ranked the 10th-largest operator by aggregate fleet capacity. It owns just one vessel, with its remaining 69 ships controlled through charter deals.
