Security firm Verisure rises 13% after $16 billion Stockholm IPO

STOCKHOLM, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Shares of security services group Verisure VSURE.ST rose 13% on Wednesday on their first day of trading on the Stockholm bourse following the biggest initial public offering of a European company so far this year, according to LSEG data.

Verisure traded at 15.0 euros at 0713 GMT against an offering price announced earlier on Wednesday of 13.25 euros (145.36 crowns) that had valued the group at 13.7 billion euros ($15.9 billion).

The Switzerland-based alarm systems provider's float comes amid a broader revival in Europe's IPO market after a sluggish first half of the year, when several listings were pulled due to trade tensions and concerns over conflict in the Middle East.

STRONG INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR INTEREST

Verisure, which had previously set a share price range of between 12.25 and 13.50 euros, said in a statement the offering was multiple times oversubscribed.

"The offering attracted strong interest from Swedish and international institutional investors as well as the general public in Sweden," it said.

Verisure, initially a unit of Sweden's Securitas SECUb.ST, was first listed in 2006 as Securitas Direct. Its current majority owner is U.S. private equity firm Hellman & Friedman.

The company unveiled in September it planned to list on Nasdaq Sweden and raise 3.1 billion euros.

It said on Wednesday that if an overallotment option is exercised in full, proceeds of the IPO will total around 3.6 billion euros.

($1 = 0.8610 euros)

(1 Swedish crown = 0.0912 euros)