It's raining initial public offerings (IPOs) this year. With the benchmark indices appreciating more than 12 percent since January 1 — BSE Sensex up 12.4 percent and NSE Nifty 13.8 percent — companies are on a rush to approach the capital markets with their IPOs.
The latest is India Energy Exchange (IEX), a company that offers trading in power. The company's public issue slated to hit capital markets this financial year will be in the nature of stake dilution by existing investors that include Multiples Alternate Asset Management, Global Energy Fund and Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to a Moneycontrol.com report on Tuesday.
A recent, 100 percent stake sale (1.51 million shares) by another investor PTC India Financial Services for Rs 132.54 crore pegs the IEX's valuation at around Rs 2,600 crore, the website said.
Another IPO candidate is Ahmedabad-based Eris Lifesciences, which recently got capital markets regulator Sebi's nod for its public issue comprising 28.87 million shares. The issue size at around Rs 2,000 crore, brokerage Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities said in a note on Tuesday.
The offer for sale by Eris Lifesciences will mean private equity firm ChrysCapital selling its 16.25 percent stake in the company (22.34 million shares), apart from founder Amit Bakshi selling a part of his 39.97 percent stake.
On Tuesday (May 9), textbook publisher S Chand and Company Ltd. (SCCL) debuted on the stock exchanges at a 5 percent premium to its issue price of Rs 670. The company's IPO last month was oversubscribed 59.49 times.
In March this year, Avenue Supermarts Ltd, which owns retail chain D-Mart, saw its shares list at 102 percent premium to its issue price of Rs 299 a share. The public issue was oversubscribed 100 times.
A month prior to that, BSE, Asia's oldest stock exchange, saw its shares list at 35 percent premium (Rs 1,085) to the issue price of Rs 806 per share. Its IPO was oversubscribed 51 times during the three-day period that ended on January 25.
On Tuesday (May 9), Avenue Supermarts was trading at Rs 781 and BSE at Rs 998.
Other IPOs that are likely to hit the capital markets include many public sector undertakings, including the five general insurance companies New India Assurance Co, United India Insurance, Oriental Insurance, National Insurance Company and the holding General Insurance Corporation, rail PSUs comprising IRCTC, RITES, Rail Vikas Nigam, Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), and ship-building companies that includes Cochin Shipyard.
