Solid starts for education market debutants

Childcare company Affinity Education Group and adult education company Vocation both made positive starts on their sharemarket debuts on Monday. Affinity has joined G8 Education to become Australia's second childcare operator listed on the ASX. After raising $75.5 million at $1 a share, mostly to buy childcare centres, Affinity closed the day at $1.04 in a weak market, lifting the company's capitalisation to $93.1 million. Vocation surged 7.41 per cent, or 14¢, to close at $2.03 on its debut. The company, which is a combination of three vocational education and training firms, had raised $253.3 million by selling 75.4 million shares and has a market capitalisation of $406 million.