MC Insider | Off-the-record board meetings, the SME IPO guru, and changing of the anchor guard

At this private sector bank, the real board meetings often happen before the official ones. Board members are clocking more face-time than a reality TV reunion. Official meetings happen daily, but the real firework, we hear, is all pre-game. Sources say board members prefer to hash out the spicy stuff—new revelations, debates on critical issues, you name it—before they go “on record.” After all, once the formal meeting begins, everything needs to be recorded and noted down, and nobody wants the juiciest bits archived in minutes. Meanwhile, the board is also drawing flak for allegedly handing out some top execs exits smoother than a VIP in an airport lounge. Let’s just say investors aren’t thrilled.

In the world of SME IPOs, one man had the magic touch—and the best meetings in town. When mainboard IPOs were drying up, SME listings were sizzling, and this now-former SME segment head at an exchange was the unofficial bouncer to the IPO party. Word in the merchant banking corridors? No IPO got listed without a “coffee catch-up” with the man himself. Though he’s since moved on, he didn’t go far. Armed with deep connections and deeper pockets, he launched a dedicated SME IPO fund worth hundreds of crores soon after his exit. Now out of the exchange but still in the game, he’s still the man everyone calls when things hit a regulatory speed bump. As one banker quipped, “He may be out, but he’s never offline.”

A new clutch of overseas investors has debuted in the anchor books of desi IPOs—it’s not just the usual suspects anymore. A climate-focused fund from the Middle East, which has also set up the world’s largest private investment vehicle for climate change action, made its debut with a bet on a recent “divine play” of an issue backed by a private equity firm. Meanwhile, a British pension fund was tapped for the IPO of this leading storage solutions provider. The anchor pool is clearly diversifying, and a little more variety doesn’t hurt.