Moncler, the luxury skiwear maker that specialises in €1,000 jackets, pulled off the most successful European stock market debut of 2013 after its shares surged almost 50 per cent on the first day of trading.

At the close of a frantic day on the Milan bourse, the Italian company was worth €3.7bn after it received €20bn of orders from investors desperate to back the next luxury growth stock.

Such was the flurry of demand in the opening minutes that the Italian stock exchange was at first unable to register an opening price for the brand created by entrepreneur Remo Ruffini and backed by private equity. The sale makes Mr Ruffini, who owns a third of the company, a paper billionaire. Among the investors who got shares were sovereign wealth funds from China, Singapore, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. They were joined on the shareholder register by members of the luxury elite from Bernard Arnault to Italian luxury dynasties such as Ferragamo and Prada, according to three people with direct knowledge. Dozens of others were left empty-handed.