Bharti Hexacom IPO subscribed 30 times on Day 3; listing on April 12

The public issue of Bharti Hexacom, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, received a solid response from investors as the IPO (initial public offer) was subscribed 29.88 times as of the last day of the bidding on Friday, backed by QIB category investors.

The consolidated bid details shared by the NSE show the company received bids for 123.2 crore shares against 4.1 crore on offer. The retail quota was subscribed 2.82 times as bids were placed for 2.1 crore shares against 75 lakh on offer. The non-institutional investors' quota was subscribed 10.51 times with 11,82,90,718 bids placed for 1,12,50,000 shares on offer. The qualified institutional buyers' (QIBs) category was subscribed the highest 48.57 times as 109 crore shares were bid for against 2.25 crore on offer.

The company had reserved 75% of the issue size for QIBs, 15% for NIIs, and the remaining 10% for retail investors.

The anchor investor allocation data shows a total of 97 anchor investors took part in the process, and were allocated 3.37 crore shares, raising ₹1,923.7 crore for the company at ₹570 per equity share.

Of the total allocation of 3.37 crore shares to anchor investors, 1.38 crore shares, i.e. 41.12% of the allocation quota, were allocated to 22 domestic mutual funds via 55 schemes. The company raised ₹791.02 crore from them.

Bharti Hexacom had fixed the price band at ₹542-570 per share for its issue. The company looks to raise ₹4,275 crore at the upper band of the issue price, which is entirely an issue of an offer for sale (OFS) of 7.5 crore shares by its only public shareholder, Telecommunications Consultants India.

The allotment of shares to applicants is expected to be finalised on April 8, 2024, and the stocks are likely to be listed on the BSE and NSE on April 12, 2024.

Currently, Bharti Airtel holds a 70% stake (or 35 crore equity shares) in Bharti Hexacom, while the Government of India through Telecommunication Consultants of India owns the remaining 30%, or 15 crore, equity shares in the mobile telephony services company. Under the OFS, Telecommunication Consultants of India will offload 7.5 crore equity shares, or 15%, stake in the company.

Bharti Hexacom filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the capital market regulator SEBI in January, while it received an observation letter on March 11, 2024. This is going to be the first IPO from the Bharti Group after 12 years since the listing of Bharti Infratel in 2012.

Set up on April 20, 1995, Bharti Hexacom is the largest mobile telephony service in Rajasthan and North Eastern circles in India. It offers its services under the brand ‘Airtel’. Bharti Hexacom concluded the financial year 2023 with a net profit of ₹549 crore, down 67.2% compared to the previous year, while revenue from operations rose 21.7% to ₹6,579 crore in FY23.