BENGALURU, Aug 18 Reuters Shares of India39;s Concord Biotech climbed as much as 33.3 in their market debut on Friday, valuing the biopharma company at more than 103 billion rupees 1.24 billion.

The Ahmedabad, Gujaratbased company opened at 900.05 rupees, a 21 premium compared with its initial public offer IPO price of 741 rupees. It stayed above that mark through the morning session, hitting its highest at 987.7 rupees.

Founded in 2000, Concord Biotech makes active pharmaceutical ingredients the key biologically active elements in a drug as well as finished dosages.

Even in a subdued equity market, Concord has managed to list above the street39;s expectations of a 15 gain, said Prashant Tapse, senior vice president of research at Mehta Equities.

We are optimistic about the company39;s fermentation and API businesses as well as the global biopharma sector in the long term.

The surge in trading debut comes when Indian benchmarks have retreated from record highs hit in the first half of the year due to moderating fund inflows from foreign investors, worries over interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve and growth concerns in China.

India39;s benchmark Nifty 50 and SP BSE Sensex were down 0.4 each at 1124 a.m. IST.

Concord39;s IPO comprised 20.9 million shares on offer from existing stakeholders, according to its prospectus, implying the proceeds would go to the selling shareholders alone and not the company.

The 15.51 billionrupees offering was subscribed…