July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Bumi Armada Bhd., controlled by Malaysian billionaire T. Ananda Krishnan, surged on its Kuala Lumpur debut after raising 2.66 billion ringgit ($889 million) in the nation’s biggest initial public offering this year.

The Kuala Lumpur-based company, which provides vessels for the oil and gas industry, jumped 37 percent to close at 4.14 ringgit, while Malaysia’s benchmark stock index climbed 0.2 percent. It was the most active on the Malaysian bourse with 304 million shares traded. It sold shares at 3.03 ringgit each in its IPO.

“Oil and gas stocks are good to own,” Lye Thim Loong, who helps manage about $770 million at Avenue Invest Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur, said in an interview. It is “trying to be among the top five in the world,” said Lye, who bought stock in the IPO.

Bumi Armada’s IPO was Malaysia’s largest since Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd. raised a record 12.8 billion ringgit in November. Demand from institutions exceeded supply by almost 50 times, the company said on July 11. Thirteen of the 21 stocks debuting in Malaysia this year have risen from their offer price, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“The interest has been high all over the world particularly in Europe,” Chief Executive Officer Hassan Assad Basma told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today. “We are very pleased as you can see from the initial opening.”

Order Book

Bumi Armada has more than 40 vessels and has operated in over 10 countries such as Brunei, Vietnam, Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico, according to the company’s share-sale document. The company’s net income in 2010 rose 26 percent from a year earlier to 350.8 million ringgit, or 16.02 sen a share, data from the document showed. Revenue climbed to 1.24 billion ringgit from 732.1 million ringgit, it said.

It has an order book of contracts totaling 5.8 billion ringgit, with extension options worth 2.5 billion ringgit, according to a corporate fact sheet given to reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.

The stock is rated “buy” at ECM Libra Capital Sdn. with a share price estimate of 3.91 ringgit, according to a report today. “Major contracts are all for the long term, hence providing the group with good earnings visibility,” analyst Bernard Ching said in the report.

Ananda Krishnan, Malaysia’s second-richest person after Robert Kuok, jointly bought control of Bumi Armada in 2002, before taking it private a year later. He has a history of delisting and relisting companies, having privatized cell-phone carrier Maxis Communications Bhd. 2007 before taking it public again as Maxis Bhd. in 2009 without its international operations.

He has since delisted pay-TV broadcaster Astro All Asia Networks Plc, satellite operator Measat Global Bhd., and power and gaming group Tanjong Plc.