New York, Oct 11 (AP) Birkenstock is making its debut on the stock market as Wall Street trades in its wingtips for sandals for a day.

The 249-year-old German maker of upmarket sandals set a price of USD 46 per share for its initial public offering of stock, valuing the company at USD 8.64 billion.

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Birkenstock is due to start trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the “BIRK” ticker symbol. Birkenstock Holding Ltd. sold about 10.8 million shares in the offering, raising about USD 495 million. Its shareholders sold an additional 21.5 million shares.

The company's footwear was first cobbled together by Johann Adam Birkenstock in Germany in 1774. The sandals have long been derided as the antithesis of high fashion but have a cult following and this year got a plug in the blockbuster film “Barbie.”

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Birkenstock's IPO will be the fourth to launch in the US in the past month, following Arm Holdings, Klaviyo and Instacart. There were just 71 IPOs in the US last year, the lowest number since 2009, according to Renaissance Capital.(AP)

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