The IPO of Bharat Coking Coal drew an overwhelming response on the final day of bidding, with the issue subscribed 143.36 times by 3:30 pm on Tuesday, January 13, as investor optimism around listing gains and Coal India’s value-unlocking strategy gathered pace into the close.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO's NSE and BSE consolidated bid data showed a sharp surge in institutional participation in the closing hours, with the qualified institutional buyers’ (QIB) portion subscribed a whopping 302.95 times.
Non-institutional investors (NIIs) continued to dominate demand at 255.26 times, while the retail individual investors’ (RII) category was subscribed 47.03 times. The shareholder quota stood at 85.18 times and the employee portion at 4.91 times.
Bharat Coking Coal’s Rs 1,071.11-crore public issue is entirely an offer for sale of 46.57 crore equity shares by promoter Coal India, priced in a band of Rs 21-23 per share. As a pure OFS, the company will not receive any proceeds from the IPO, with the entire amount accruing to the selling shareholder.
The issue gathered momentum early in the bidding window, getting fully subscribed within about 25 minutes of opening on Day 1, before accelerating sharply on the final day as institutional and high-net-worth investors piled in.
Ahead of listing, unlisted shares of Bharat Coking Coal were trading at a grey market premium of about 47 percent over the IPO price, with shares changing hands around Rs 33 apiece, according to data from Investorgain. Market observers said the rising GMP over the bidding period reflects strong expectations of a positive listing, though such unofficial indicators remain volatile.
Brokerages have largely struck a constructive tone. Anand Rathi has advised investors to ‘subscribe’ to the issue for listing gains, citing the company’s strong market position and a valuation of about 8.6 times FY25 earnings at the upper end of the price band. Deven Choksey has also maintained a ‘Subscribe’ rating, recommending the IPO for long-term investors and pointing to a defensive yield profile with potential growth upside.
The broader narrative around value unlocking has also gained traction. Gaurav Garg, research analyst at Lemonn Markets Desk, has said the BCCL IPO goes beyond a routine listing and represents a strategy to unlock embedded value, with potential benefits for both the parent and the subsidiary over the long term.
The IPO closes for subscription later today, January 13, with the allotment expected to be finalised on January 14. However, uncertainty has emerged over the listing timeline as domestic equity markets will remain shut on Thursday, January 15, due to municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra. The credit of shares to demat accounts and refunds were earlier scheduled for January 15, and a revised timetable is awaited. The listing on the BSE and NSE was tentatively slated for January 16.
IDBI Capital Markets Services and ICICI Securities are the book-running lead managers to the issue, while KFin Technologies is the registrar.
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