IPO Market Heats Up; 3 Dozen Cos Line Up `35,000 Cr Public Offers

The IPO lane seems to get busier as three dozen companies have lined up initial share sale plans worth Rs 35,000 crore in the coming months, largely to fund their expansion projects and working capital requirement.

These include six state-run entities -- Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, Rail Vikas Nigam, IRCON International, RITES, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers and Mazagon Dock -- as the government intends to unlock the real value of such PSUs and bring in greater accountability.

Of these three dozen firms, most of these companies plan to utilise initial public offer (IPO) proceeds for business expansion as well as working capital requirements, as per the draft papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Besides, some of the firms believe the listing of equity shares on bourses will enhance their brand name and provide liquidity to existing shareholders.

“After raising record funds through IPOs in 2017, the primary markets in this year will also witness healthy fund raising activity driven by improving utilisation levels across industries and tightening of credit availability on account of poor state of affairs in banking industry,” Equirus Capital - Director Capital Market, Munish Aggarwal said.

In this year, Barbeque-Nation Hospitality, TCNS Clothing Company, Nazara Technologies and Devi Seafoods are among the 12 companies that have secured SEBI's nod to float their public offers.

In addition, 24 companies including Route Mobile, CreditAccess Grameen, Sembcorp Energy India, Flemingo Travel Retail and Lodha Developers are awaiting the regulator's approval to float IPOs.

Together, these companies are expected to raise about Rs 35,000 crore, merchant banking sources said. Moreover, 15 companies including ICICI Securities, Bandhan Bank, Hindustan Aeronautics and Mishra Dhatu Nigam have already hit the capital markets so far this year.

According to experts, the IPO market will continue to see hectic activity as over a dozen firms are awaiting Sebi's nod to launch their public issues. “The IPO market is buoyant for good quality company issues which are priced cautiously. There is investor appetite for companies which price their IPOs keeping money-on-table for investors,” J Kalyaniwala, vice president of investment banking at Prabhudas Lilladher said.

The year 2017 saw 36 companies collectively raising a record over Rs 67,000 crore through their respective initial share-sales. The previous high being in 2010 when Rs 37,535 crore was garnered, almost half the amount. Experts said that proactive regulatory environment coupled with uplifted investor sentiment has helped the IPO market.