Malaysia's Critical Holdings' shares close up 63% in market debut

Interest in engineering firm comes amid demand for data center, chip facilities

Critical Holdings' strong market debut highlights investor confidence in the young company's growing business, which is benefiting from construction of new tech infrastructure like data centers and chip factories in Malaysia. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Critical Holdings)

TSUBASA SURUGA, Nikkei staff writer

December 18, 2023 11:08 JST

Updated on December 18, 2023 19:09 JST

SINGAPORE -- Critical Holdings, a Malaysian engineering firm specializing in design and installment of building systems, aims to step up its expansion drive following a strong market debut on Monday, tapping a surge in demand for data centers and semiconductor facilities.

The Penang, Malaysia-based company raised 26.02 million ringgit ($5.54 million) through a public issuance of over 74 million new shares. Its share price opened at 0.5 ringgit, up 43% from the initial offering price of 0.35 ringgit in Kuala Lumpur on Bursa Malaysia's Ace Market -- a bourse for small and midsize firms with high growth potential before potential listing on the main market.