Mumbai, Aug. 17: Investor interest in new issue listings is showing no signs of fading away. The Hyderabad-based Vivimed Laboratories, which manufactures cosmetic ingredients, today made a stunning debut on stock exchanges when its share got listed at a 64 per cent premium and ended the day with a whopping gain of around 212 per cent to its offer price.

As against the offer price of Rs 70, the Vivimed scrip made an eye-popping debut on the Bombay Stock Exchange when it opened at Rs 115. However, this was just the beginning. As investors made a beeline for the stock, it breached the Rs 200-level in the first 90 minutes of trade.

Vivimed shares soon shot up to an intra-day high of Rs 223 and finally closed at Rs 218.35, a gain of three times over its issue price.

The scrip also topped the turnover charts on the BSE on a day when the key index rose by 91 points. While over 1.26 crore shares of Vivimed were traded on the exchange, the total turnover in the counter stood at Rs 247.98 crore.

While the astounding debut of Vivimed did surprise many observers, it comes on the back of IDFC, whose shares also doubled on its opening day.

Vivimed Labs came out with the initial public offer to raise funds for its expansion project to increase the production capacity of triclosan.

This is an anti-microbial non-injectible ingredient used in products such as toothpaste. It is also planning to set up a production facility for other products such as Avis, a ultra-violet ray absorber, Calcium Glycerophosphate used for oral care, and Cosvat, which is an anti-fungal and a skincare product.

The issue was oversubscribed more than 30 times.

Vivimed Labs was incorporated as Emgi Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals Private Ltd in 1988 and it began by manufacturing bulk drugs. Following the severe price pressure on its products, the company shifted to synthesis of speciality chemicals for end-use in personal care industry.

More than 50 per cent of the company’s sales for the year ended March 2005 were from triclosan.

Vivimed supplies this ingredient to companies like Hindustan Lever.