Future Ventures fails to woo institutional investors
BS Reporter / Mumbai April 28, 2011, 0:08 IST
Qualified institutional buyer portion subscribed only 26 per cent despite pricing of shares almost on par.
Kishore BiyaniThe initial public offer (IPO) of the Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Ventures India has failed to attract institutional investors even after the offering of equity shares almost on par. Data clearly showed that the segment reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed only 26 per cent till Wednesday, the last day for institutions to submit their bids. Overall, the issue has been subscribed 95 per cent with one day to go before it closes.
According to data available on the website of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), QIBs have submitted bids for 97.40 million shares, as against 375 million shares on offer in the price band of Rs 10 to Rs 11. While domestic financial institutions, including banks and insurance companies, have put in bids for 62.27 million shares, foreign institutional investors have given it a miss by putting in bids for only 35.13 million shares.
Interestingly, while company officials could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts, an executive involved in the deal said this “will not harm the closing of the issue”.
Investment bankers managing the deal also expressed a similar view, saying the tepid response in the institutional segment would not impact the overall issue. “Though the QIB portion is not fully subscribed, the issue is through as it is subscribed 1.1 times overall already,” said Atul Mehra, Co-CEO, JM Financial. Apart from JM Financial, Enam Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital are the book running lead managers to the issue.
According to NSE, the issue had been subscribed 0.95 times till 5 pm on Wednesday, with the retail and high networth individual (HNI) segments subscribed 0.16 times and 5.12 times, respectively. Thursday is the last day for retail and HNIs to submit their bids.
Another banker from Enam Securities said the issue structure in the DRHP allowed spillovers from one investor basket to be used to make up the shortfall in others. “There are certain eligibility criteria for a company to bring IPOs without full subscription of QIBs. This company fulfils those conditions,” he said.
Interestingly, at the IPO media conference, Biyani had said he had priced the IPO of his group company at near par levels as he wanted to make amends for the steep pricing of the Future Capital IPO, which resulted in heavy losses for investors. In 2008, Future Capital raised Rs 450 crore through initial share sales, selling at Rs 765 per share. Three years later, the shares of the company are trading at less than a fourth of their value.
“Some of the brands they are trying to develop are pitted against established names. It is doubtful how much they can scale up these brands,” said Ambareesh Baliga, chief operating officer at Way2Wealth Securities, which had an ‘avoid’ recommendation for the issue. “Also, of Rs 750 crore the company is aiming to raise from the issue, there is no clarity about how they are planning to spend Rs 630 crore,” he added.
This was also the first time in recent years that a major business group was offering shares at near par levels. The BS database shows that only 10 companies have sold IPOs at an offer price of less than Rs 20 in the past four years. Future Ventures invests in businesses that are strategically important to the group’s retail business. It plans to use a large part of the funds for acquiring new businesses while approximately Rs 120 crore will be used to grow the existing businesses.
Zerodha (Trading & Demat Account)
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