Indian investment bankers gear up for their best year ever, almost 2600 crore ($347 million) in fees from local Initial Public Offering (IPO) Which has reached the highest level ever in 2021.
More than 110 companies ranging from online grocers to food delivery and beauty startups listed their shares in Mumbai this year, raising nearly $18 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Data provided by New Delhi-based Prime Database shows that the fees charged by banks that sold shares for the first time in 2017 is more than four times the previous record.
“It was an exceptionally busy year, which I have not seen in my 30-year career,” said Jaishankar Venkataraman, Head of Equity Capital Markets, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company in Mumbai. “Investment bankers worked at home and they weren’t completely off.”
The coming IPO boom amid a rally in benchmark local stock indexes that hit a record in October was led by companies including One97 Communications Ltd, Zomato Ltd and PB Fintech Ltd. The wave of listings in India has tracked a broader trend in Asia, where companies have raised nearly $181 billion this year, an unprecedented level.
One97 offers digital payment services under the Paytm brand; Zomato is a food delivery startup; And, PB Fintech runs an online insurance marketplace called PolicyBazaar.
In addition to the proposed mega listing by state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India, several more stock sales are in the line for next year in India, which could raise at least 400 billion rupees ($5.3 billion).
The country’s largest bank, State Bank of India, may raise around $1 billion through an IPO by selling stake in its mutual fund venture. More Retail Pvt., a grocery chain backed by Amazon.com Inc., is considering an offer of up to $500 million. E-commerce firm and Walmart Inc unit, Flipkart Online Services Pvt, and digital-education startup Byju Pte. Also preparing for the first time share sale.
Kotak Mahindra’s Venkataraman expects to raise the same amount or slightly higher in 2022. But risks such as the spread of the Omicron version of the coronavirus, rising inflation and rising interest rates could weigh on the sentiment in the market, he said. The S&P BSE Sensex is already below its record close of October 18.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.
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