Fractal Analytics IPO races ahead of Aye Finance as bids near close

Two IPOs Reach Final Hours: Fractal Analytics and Aye Finance

As the clock ticks down, two mainboard initial public offerings (IPOs) - Fractal Analytics and Aye Finance - are heading into their final hours of bidding today, with subscription trends at mid-afternoon showing a clear divide in investor appetite.

Fractal Analytics IPO

At 3.27 pm, Fractal Analytics' issue was subscribed 2.58 times overall, supported primarily by strong institutional participation.

• Institutional Participation: Robust demand from qualified institutional buyers, who subscribed their portion 4.09 times by 3.27 pm.
• Non-institutional Investor Segment: Fully covered at 1.00 time.
• Retail Participation: Subdued at 0.93 time of the quota.
• Employee Portion: Subscribed 0.55 time.

The IPO is priced in the band of ₹857 to ₹900 per share, valuing the company at close to ₹15,500 crore at the upper end. Ahead of the issue, Fractal raised ₹1,248.26 crore from anchor investors, lending early support to the offering.

Key Highlights:

• Fractal Analytics has significantly downsized the IPO from the originally proposed ₹4,900 crore to about ₹2,833.9 crore.
• The IPO comprises a fresh issue of up to ₹1,023.5 crore and an offer for sale of ₹1,810.4 crore by existing shareholders.
• Proceeds from the fresh issue are earmarked for investments in subsidiary Fractal USA, repayment or pre-payment of borrowings, and other general corporate purposes.

Aye Finance IPO

Aye Finance's IPO saw a slower pace of bidding, with the issue subscribed 0.96 times overall by 3.27 pm.

• Qualified Institutional Buyers: Accounted for most of the demand, subscribing their portion 1.50 times.
• Non-institutional Investor Category: Remained thinly covered at 0.05 time.
• Retail Investors: Subscribed 0.72 time of their allocation, underscoring a cautious stance among individual participants.

The non-banking financial company has offered shares in a price band of ₹122 to ₹129, which implies a valuation of ₹3,184 crore at the top end. It had earlier garnered ₹454.5 crore from anchor investors ahead of the public issue.

Key Highlights:

• The offer comprises a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to ₹710 crore and an offer for sale of up to ₹300 crore by existing shareholders.
• Funds raised through the fresh issue will be deployed to strengthen the company's capital base and support growth in its loan book and business operations.

The IPOs are scheduled to list on February 16, with investors closely watching whether institutional participation improves in the final stretch.