Waaree Energies raises Rs 1,277 crore via anchor book, IPO opens on October 21

Waaree Energies IPO

Solar photovoltaic modules maker Waaree Energies on October 18 raised Rs 1,276.9 crore from 92 anchor investors. The subscription for the Rs 4,321-crore initial public offering will start from October 21 and end on October 23.

The IPO is a combination of fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 3,600 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of 48 lakh shares worth Rs 721.44 crore. Waaree Sustainable Finance and Chandurkar Investments will be the selling shareholders in the OFS.

The Mumbai-based company has finalised allocation of 84,95,887 equity shares to anchor investors at a price of Rs 1,503 per share.

Marquee investors like Morgan Stanley, Blackrock, Goldman Sachs, PGGM World Equity, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Eastspring Investments, BNP Paribas Funds, Carmignac Portfolio, Copthall Mauritius, Florida Retirement System, Pinebridge Global Funds, and CLSA Global Markets participated in the anchor book.

HDFC Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Nomura India, Aditya Birla Sun Life Trustee, Canara Robeco Mutual Fund, Franklin India, Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund, Mirae Asset, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund, Quant Mutual Fund, Tata Mutual Fund, Invesco India, Jupiter India Fund, Ashoka Whiteoak ICAV, Bandhan Mutual Fund, Sundaram Mutual Fund, PGIM India, and UTI Mutual Fund also invested significant amount in the company.

"Out of the total allocation of 84.95 lakh equity shares to the anchor investors, 28.31 lakh shares were allocated to 17 domestic mutual funds through a total of 45 schemes," Waaree Energies said.

Further, several insurance companies including HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential Life, Max Life, SBI General, SBI Life, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Bajaj Allianz Life, Kotak Mahindra Life, Reliance Nippon Life, and Tata AIA Life also became shareholders in the company by investing through anchor book.

Waaree Energies is the largest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules in India with an installed capacity of 12GW as of June 2024, which increased from 4GW in FY22. Recently, its subsidiary Indosolar commissioned 1.3 GW of solar module manufacturing facility at Noida, Uttar Pradesh; the company already had four facilities in Gujarat.

The company that competes with listed peers like Premier Energies and Websol Energy System is also in the process of expanding its global manufacturing presence, with the establishment of up to 1.6 GW facility in Texas in the United States to manufacture solar PV modules. This can be further expanded by an additional 1.4 GW, subject to market conditions, taking the total capacity to 3 GW by FY26 and 5 GW of solar module manufacturing facility by FY27.

The net fresh issue proceeds (fresh issue less IPO expenses) will be utilised for establishing the 6 GW of solar ingots, wafers, cell and solar PV module manufacturing facility in Odisha, and the remainder will be used for general corporate purposes.

The price band for the issue has been fixed at Rs 1,427-1,503 per share.

On the financials front, Waaree Energies recorded robust growth in the past fiscal years with profit in FY24 growing 155 percent to Rs 1,274.4 crore from Rs 500.3 crore in the previous year. It recorded revenue from operations at Rs 11,397.6 crore for the fiscal year 2024, increasing 68.8 percent from Rs 6,750.9 crore in the previous fiscal.

Profit in the three months period ended June 2024 at Rs 401 crore increased by 18.6 percent over the same period last fiscal, with revenue rising 2.4 percent on-year to Rs 3,408.9 crore during the quarter.

Promoters own 71.8 percent stake in the Waaree Energies, and the remaining shares are held by public shareholders.

Axis Capital, IIFL Securities, Jefferies India, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities India, SBI Capital Markets, Intensive Fiscal Services, and ITI Capital are acting as the merchant bankers to the issue.