Tokyo Metro’s stock price soared as much as 47% in its trading debut on Wednesday after its initial public offering (IPO) drew strong demand from investors.

The shares rose as high as ¥1,768 and opened at ¥1,630 after the operator of one of the world’s biggest subway systems sold them at ¥1,200 ($8) a piece, raising ¥348.6 billion in Japan’s largest IPO since mobile carrier SoftBank listed in 2018. The deal was oversubscribed more than 15 times, according to several of the lead underwriters.

"We thought the IPO price was too low and its fair value would be around ¥1,600," said Taku Ito, chief equity fund manager at Nissay Asset Management. "This is a typical dividend stock. It is also a defensive stock. I doubt there’s much upside to its stock prices but it is a stock you can hold for a long time at current levels."