Liberty International Acquisition, Europe's first big initial public offering from an acquisitive cash-shell or "blank cheque" company, has raised €600m ($878m) on Euronext Amsterdam and shares traded up this morning despite cutting back the size of the deal by 25% due to volatile markets.

Liberty International is headed by Nicolas Berggruen and Martin Franklin, specialists in special purpose acquisition companies, or Spacs. The company had originally planned to raise up to €800, including an over-allotment option, selling 70 million units, but the sale was reduced 60 million units after markets fell yesterday. Last night the S&P closed down 3.2%, the DJ Stoxx 600 closed down 3.2% and FTSE 100 closed down 2.6%.