MC Insider | A founder's strategic shade, a bilateral block deal and smaller cities' craze for IPO

This celebrated founder has earned admiration for building a thriving, profitable company. But behind the applause, murmurs of discontent are growing louder. What used to be subtle jabs have now become open shots: every time a competitor announces a funding round or growth milestone, this founder takes to social media with thinly veiled warnings about industry bubbles, unsustainable models, or imminent collapse. The commentary is rarely direct, but the timing is telling, and some have started to notice the pattern. What once seemed like thought leadership is now being read as insecurity or strategic shade.

One of India’s posterboys for Make in India and darling of the stock markets recently saw a local fund swoop in for a block deal. You’d think a stock of this size wouldn’t have any problem finding buyers, but nope, the fund ended up being the lone ranger, picking up almost the entire stake. It was a bilateral deal. Market chatter has it that it was a classic back-to-back arrangement, with a sweet little commitment to park the money in the fund. Voila—an instant AUM boost, at least temporarily.

India Inc has an impressive line of listings over the next 12-18 months -- Tata Capital, Manipal Hospitals, Lenskart, PhonePe and ICICI Prudential MF. All these firms are based in big cities. But dealmakers say the IPO bug is now catching on in tier-2 cities. The deals may be smaller, but one can't ignore the entrepreneurial zeal and ambition, says a banker who has been practically living out of a suitcase. Cities such as Surat, Baroda, and Rajkot are bustling with action in the solar and green energy space. Add Ludhiana’s auto parts makers and Jaipur’s rising stars, and suddenly, these smaller centres are punching above their weight in terms of volumes, says a second banker.