Equitas IPO a top draw; issue oversubscribed 17.21 times

The Rs 2,200 crore-IPO of Equitas Holdings, the biggest initial public offering so far this year, saw robust investor response as the issue was oversubscribed 17.21 times on the last day of the offer today.

The IPO generated demands worth over Rs 37,000 crore from only domestic investors as it received total bids for 2,39,50,97,640 shares against the issue size of 13,91,91,802 shares, data available with NSE till 1930 hrs showed.

The portion set aside for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was oversubscribed 14.92 times and that of non institutional investors received 57 times subscription, sources said.

Retail investors category was also oversubscribed 1.31 times.

In another record for the year from the company, its IPO saw 5.5 lakh applications.

The company has raised Rs 652 crore from anchor investors.

Equitas Holdings, with a licence for a small finance bank, has fixed the price band at Rs 109-110 per share. The initial share sale programme, the first and also the largest in the current fiscal, will close today.

Equitas' IPO comprises fresh issue of shares aggregating Rs 720 crore and an offer for sale of up to 1,32,425,884 shares by existing shareholders, including P N Vasudevan, MD, and private equity stakeholders.

The IPO will bring down the company's foreign holding to 35 percent, from the current 93 percent.

As per the norms, foreign shareholding should be below 49 percent to operate as a small finance bank.

Funds generated from the fresh issue will be used to develop IT infrastructure for the new bank and lending purposes, among others.

Axis Capital, ICICI Securities, HSBC and Edelweiss Financial Services are managing the company's IPO.

Earlier this year, staffing firm TeamLease Services IPO had received an overwhelming response from investors as the issue was oversubscribed 66 times.