Medibank Private shares have made a solid start to trading, debuting at $2.22.
The private health insurer hit the share market on Tuesday after a $5.7 billion float, where parties snapped up stock at $2 each.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann spoke at the official listing of the private health insurer, describing it as a “strong commercial business”.
"It has long been the government's policy to sell Medibank Private," he said.
Speaking shortly after its listing, Senator Cormann described the sale of as a win for policy holders and taxpayers.
"We believe Medibank Private in private hands will perform even better than under government ownership because they will have more flexibility to pursue growth opportunities into the future," he said.
Medibank was the highest traded stock on the Australian market at 1242 AEDT, with 259 million shares having changed hands.
Managing director George Savvides said interest from investors had been overwhelming and Medibank now had about 440,000 shareholders.
"Up until today there have been relatively limited opportunities to invest in private health insurance as a sector," he said.
CMC Markets sales trader Will Leys said the listing was a good result.
"There has been quite a build-up and excitement amongst the general public," he said in a note to clients.
"The sheer size of the listing, combined with the fact that it has been part of Australian landscape for so long, justifies the attention it's receiving."
To date, the Medibank Private share market offer has raised almost $5.7 billion, $1 billion more than expected.
All the money will be tipped into the government's so-called asset recycling fund, which helps pay the states and territories to sell assets and use the proceeds to build new infrastructure like roads.
