DAM Capital stock down over 50% from listing high, some dealmakers quit

Since it listed 12 months ago, the merchant banker has seen two managing directors and six executive directors exit the firm

Equity capital markets-focused investment bank DAM Capital Advisors, which went public in December 2024, has seen some senior dealmakers exit in less than a year, in the months following the firm’s IPO.

Since it listed 12 months ago, the merchant banker has seen two managing directors and six executive directors exit the firm, according to publicly available information reviewed by Moneycontrol and people aware of the developments. DAM is India’s only listed investment bank.

Senior executives who have left the firm over the past year include managing directors Kamraj Negi and Alok Malpani, and executive directors Alok Chokani, Sachin Chandiwal, Siddharth Shah, Sharad Dhariwal, Anurag Byas, and Akshay Bhadari.

The exits began shortly after the IPO. Byas and Chandiwal left in January and February, respectively, followed by Bhadari in April. Negi exited in June along with Siddharth Shah and Sharad Dhariwal. Chokani is the latest senior executive to leave the firm, exiting in November.

“The churn is part of the industry churn which is much more in other firms than DAM Capital so nothing different for us. Churn is normal in a growth market, and we have already hired better, and senior talent as announced earlier and will be hiring more senior people. We have seen good interest to join our platform,” DAM Capital promoter Dharmesh Mehta said in an email response to Moneycontrol’s queries.

This management churn has coincided with a fall in the company’s share price. Investment banking is a people-driven business, and the loss of senior talent can be directly proportional to a bank’s ability to win mandates and execute transactions, potentially impacting its fee income,  industry officials say.

“The fact is DAM Capital delivered 9 IPOs, and the best results ever last quarter demonstrates our strong management and execution team so few people leaving has no impact on the firm,” Mehta said.

“As mentioned in our last results presentation we are already mandated for 21 IPOs and continue to win more. We have been bankers to marquee IPOs like JSW Cement, Afcons, JSW Infra, Reliance rights issue etc speaks of our execution capabilities for us to be part of such marquee and large transactions for a 5-year-old firm,” Mehta added.

Stock Price

DAM Capital’s stock has fallen 53 percent from its listing-day high of Rs 456.9 (also its 52-week high) to Rs 212.45 as of December 12. Compared with its IPO price of Rs 283 a share, the stock is down about 25 percent.

Mehta declined to comment on the dip in DAM’s stock price stating that stock price is not under management control.

The DAM scrip was quoting at Rs 212.65 on December 15 on the BSE.

DAM Capital derives nearly 60 percent of its revenues from investment banking, with equity capital markets — primarily IPOs — forming the core focus area of the firm.

In the first half of FY26, the investment bank saw revenue and profit growth of 26 percent and 20 percent year-on-year, respectively, compared with revenue and profit growth of 37.5 percent and 47.1 percent in FY25.

IPO Count

Data from the Association of Investment Bankers of India (AIBI) shows the firm has advised on 10 successfully launched IPOs so far in 2025. This compares with 24 IPOs launched by JM Financial, 23 by IIFL Capital, 22 by Motilal Oswal, 19 by Axis Capital, 17 by Kotak Investment Banking and 16 by ICICI Securities.

The largest IPO executed by DAM Capital this year was the Rs 3,600-crore JSW Cement issue, followed by Jain Resources at Rs 1,250 crore. The remaining deals executed by the bank were all below Rs 1,000 crore in size.

After a soft Q1 FY26, which saw revenue dip by 33 percent to Rs 31 crore and profit dropped 99 percent to 0.23 crore due to market volatility and fewer deals getting launched, DAM reported a 69 percent year-over-year growth in revenue to Rs 107 crore in Q2 FY26, while profit grew 141 percent to Rs 52 crore.

“Comparing DAM Capital to institutions which are built over 30/40 years is not a fair comparison, but I am glad you have put DAM Capital in the topmost bracket and hopefully soon we will do as many deals as our competitors,” Mehta added.

ESOP Scheme

The series of exits came even as DAM Capital instituted an employee stock option program in 2024, shortly before its IPO.

DAM Capital introduced its employee stock option plan — the DAM Capital Employee Stock Option Scheme 2024 — in August 2024, just ahead of its IPO, the company’s prospectus shows. The ESOPs carry a strike price of Rs 255 per share, which currently sits above the company’s prevailing market price.

“The fact is we have hired better senior talent means our cost structure is equally attractive. If the rewards were not attractive, we wouldn't been able to higher such senior talent and continue to attract the same,” Mehta said.

Mehta, an equity capital markets veteran who has previously worked at Enam and Axis Capital, acquired IDFC Securities in August 2019 along with investors for Rs 86 crore, investing Rs 30 crore to buy a 45 percent stake. The firm was later renamed DAM Capital. Mehta currently holds around a 40 percent stake in the business, according to stock exchange data.

The IPO of DAM Capital, priced at Rs 283 per share, valued the company at approximately Rs 2,000 crore. The issue was a pure offer for sale by Mehta and investors including Multiples PE, RBL Bank, Narotam Sekhsaria and Easyaccess Financial Services Limited.