KUALA LUMPUR (June 16): Elsa Bhd (KL:ELSA) ended the day a tad higher in its ACE Market trading debut amid broader market weakness on Tuesday.

The oilfield services firm opened at 25 sen versus its initial public offering (IPO) price of 23 sen per share. It rose to an intraday high of 28.5 sen before closing at 27.5 sen for a first-day gain of 4.5 sen or 19.6%, with 77.66 million shares changing hands. 

At the closing price, Elsa's market capitalisation stood at RM148.1 million.

Elsa’s debut comes as oil prices began rebounding amid renewed concerns over durability of the US-Iran truce as well as the fallout from the war. Interest in Elsa was also decent ahead of the listing with its shares oversubscribed nearly 27 times by retail investors, providing some demand post-IPO.

Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Elsa operates asset-light, deploying specialised solutions for oilfield services, including geoscience, petroleum engineering, and production optimisation. The company also provides services covering human resources, digital infrastructure, and robotics.

As at mid-May, Elsa had 140 ongoing projects, with an estimated remaining contract value of RM636 million and a remaining firm order value of RM265 million. The company is highly dependent on national oil-and-gas company PETRONAS, which accounted for nearly 40% of its revenue last year.

The IPO raised RM27.23 million for the company from a public issue of new shares. More than 60% of the funds have been set aside to fund consultant-related expenses tied to Elsa’s oilfield and digital solutions portfolio, which includes existing and future projects.

The company is also allocating 16.2% of the proceeds towards expanding its robotics division while the remainder will be used for working capital and to defray listing-related expenses.

Elsa’s managing director Daniel Ilham Khong, head of digital, robotics and engineering, and talent solutions department Chow Sheng Jon, and chairman Amiruddin Mohd Zain reaped another RM8.37 million from an offer for sale of their existing shares.

Malacca Securities is the principal adviser, sponsor, underwriter, and placement agent for the exercise.

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