A big chunk of the money will be used to fund the group's organic growth plans and facilitate potential acquisitions opportunities

Construction group Stefanutti & Bressan (SGH, S&B) enjoyed a sparkling debut on the JSE on Friday, with shares opening at 15.20 rand a 21% premium on a pre-listing offer price.

Shares rose as higher as 15.70 rand during the mid morning session. At 11:35, shares in the company were trading at 15.26 rand, valuing the company at about 2.3 billion rand.

Nearly 3 million deals had changed hands by 11:35, making the company the second most active counter on the JSE.

"I think it's a good listing. The guys seem to have accepted it but I think they were hoping that it trades closer to 17 rand. But anything higher than the offer price should be good for them," one trader said.

S&B's expertise spans concrete structures and rehabilitation, road and earthworks, piling and geotechnical services, mine residue disposal facilities (tailings dams), opencast contract mining and building.

Last week, the company said it raised 465 million rand via private placement of 38,759,000 shares at 12 rand each.

A big chunk of the money will be used to fund the group's organic growth plans and facilitate potential acquisitions opportunities.