“We are proud of the successful placement of our shares. The interest and demand of institutional and private investors were exceptionally high,” said Jörg Wolle, president and chief executive of the group.

“At the price of 48 francs per share, the offer was multiple times oversubscribed.”

Shareholders of the family held firm were initially planning to float the stocks at between 42 and 48 francs per share.

DKSH is involved in marketing, sales and distribution in the health, consumer goods and technology sectors and employs about 24,000 people.

It has been active across Asia Pacific for more than a century, and has about 630 of its 650 business sites there.

Profit after tax rose 25.7 percent to 152 million Swiss francs last year from 2010 and operating profit increased 21.7 percent to 238 million francs.

Net sales rose 0.6 percent to 7.3 billion francs.