Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd., the soft drink unit of the Suntory group, debuted Wednesday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in the nation's largest initial public offering this year.

The stock closed at ¥3,145 after rising as high as ¥3,195, compared with the company's offering price of ¥3,100 per share. The company was valued at ¥957.9 billion based on its IPO price.

Going public will help the firm procure some ¥390 billion, which it wants to use to finance mergers and acquisitions overseas.

According to research firm Dealogic Holdings, the IPO is the world's second-largest this year. In dollar terms it is valued at around $3.8 billion, following the $5 billion listing of Brazilian financial services firm BB Seguridade Participacoes SA in April.

Until now, Asia's largest IPO this year was the $2.1 billion listing of Thailand's BTS Rail Mass Transit Growth.

Suntory Beverage set the offering price at the lower end of its initially planned range of ¥3,000 to ¥3,800 due to recent TSE volatility.