By Nivedita Balu
TORONTO, June 10 (Reuters) – Shares of Canadian generic drug manufacturer Apotex Health jumped in their Toronto market debut on Wednesday, with the initial public offering raising about C$1.3 billion in gross proceeds, making it the largest IPO for the TSX in five years.
The stock opened at $28, about 17% above the IPO price. The Toronto-based company priced its upsized offering on Tuesday, saying it sold 54.17 million common shares at $24, which was the top of the range.
“The success of the Apotex IPO signals that high-quality Canadian businesses can still access deep public capital markets and provides investors with exposure to a sector very underrepresented on the TSX,” said Kevin Burkett, portfolio manager at Victoria-based Burkett Asset Management.
“No doubt, Apotex’s successful launch will encourage Canadian companies waiting on the sidelines to revisit public markets as a viable path for growth capital or liquidity,” Burkett said.
The IPO was the largest since property and casualty insurer Definity Financial raised about C$1.6 billion in 2021, reviving a market that has only seen seven IPOs since 2022.
Investors said the offering gives them a rare opportunity to hold a piece of a Canadian health company in an index that is largely dominated by financials, oil and mining stocks.
It comes at a crucial time as investors await blockbuster IPOs of SpaceX in the United States later this week and await details of other mega IPOs including AI giants Anthropic and OpenAI.
Apotex, owned by New York private equity firm SK Capital Partners before the IPO, is betting on launching more high-margin drugs, expansion in Mexico and the Middle East and the launch of over a hundred generic pharmaceutical products.
The company, founded in 1974 by Barry Sherman, manufactures over 800 pharmaceutical and consumer health products, serves in about 70 countries and employs over 6,000 people worldwide.
Sherman and his wife were tragically murdered in their Toronto home in 2017; the case remains unsolved. In 2022, the company was sold to SK Partners, which will continue to be a majority shareholder.
Net income at the end of fiscal 2026 stood at C$373.8 million, nearly double its earnings in 2025. Its total debt ballooned to C$2.9 billion that year, compared with C$2.1 billion in 2025.
RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities, and Scotiabank were among the syndicate of underwriters.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith and Nivedita BaluEditing by Nick Zieminski)
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