Institutional investors drove the frenzied demand for shares of Bajaj Housing Finance, with bids exceeding 200 times the shares set aside for them
The home-loan unit of India’s largest shadow lender drew a blockbuster response for its share-sale debut, highlighting continued investor exuberance over listings in the nation.
Bajaj Housing Finance, which sought to raise 65.6 billion rupees (S$1.01 billion) in the nation’s biggest public offering of 2024, attracted bids for about US$39 billion on the last day of the sale on Wednesday (Sep 11). That’s more than 1 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product for the fiscal year ended 2024.
Institutional investors drove the frenzied demand, with bids exceeding 200 times the shares set aside for them. Retail category was over-subscribed seven times. The demand surpassed that of Tata Technologies’ blockbuster IPO last year.
India has been bustling with debuts, with US$7.75 billion raised in listings so far this year. That exceeds the proceeds in each of the past two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investors have been chasing the first day gain, which has averaged about 30 per cent this year.
Bigger sales are on the horizon – Hyundai Motor will likely raise as much as US$3.5 billion from the listing of its Indian unit in the coming months, Bloomberg News reported in July.
Bajaj Housing company aims to raise as much as 35.6 billion rupees via new shares, while founder Bajaj Finance offered up to 30 billion rupees of shares in the sale. On Sept 6, anchor investors, including Government of Singapore, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan India subscribed to 251.14 million shares worth 17.6 billion rupees at 70 rupees each. BLOOMBERG
