Malaysia's TM International makes strong debut

KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 (Reuters) - Shares of TM International Bhd (TMIT.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), formerly the mobile-phone arm of Telekom Malaysia (TLMM.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), made a strong debut as a separately listed stock on Monday, opening 2.5 percent above its indicative price.

Shares of TM International opened at 8.05 ringgit per share and raced to a high of 8.20 ringgit in the first few minutes of trade, compared with the indicative price of 7.85 ringgit per share calculated by stock exchange operator Bursa Malaysia.

At 8.20 ringgit, the company is worth around 29.3 billion ringgit ($9.29 billion).

State-linked Telekom Malaysia decided last September to spin off TM International to unlock the value of its mobile-phone businesses, which include Malaysia's second-largest mobile operator and operations in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.

Telekom (TLMM.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) opened 15 percent above its indicative price of 3.05 ringgit when it started trading for the first time as a fixed-line business last Wednesday.

Telekom Malaysia shares ended the week up 1.1 percent at 3.58 ringgit, valuing the company at about 12.95 billion ringgit. ($1=3.153 Malaysian Ringgit) (Reporting by Clarence Fernandez, editing by Mark Bendeich)