The National Stock Exchange’s IPO has drawn strong institutional participation, with over 189 investors allocated shares in the anchor book, according to the exchange’s filing on Wednesday. The final anchor allocation stood at 37.79 million equity shares at ₹1,785 apiece, taking the total size of the anchor book to around ₹6,746 crore.
CNBC-TV18 had earlier reported that the anchor book was seeing strong demand, with more than 150 investors participating and institutional interest significantly exceeding the shares available for allocation. Life Insurance Corporation of India emerged as the largest single investor, receiving an allocation worth around ₹450 crore.
Other prominent names in the anchor book include Singapore’s GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Norway’s Norges BankForeign portfolio investors accounted for around ₹2,883 crore, or 43% of the anchor book, while domestic investors received about ₹3,588 crore, or 57%.
Twenty-nine domestic mutual funds, through 98 schemes, accounted for 36.98% of the anchor allocation, while 27 life insurance companies and pension funds accounted for another 16.04%. The institutional demand comes against the backdrop of NSE having reduced the anchor portion from the earlier planned ₹9,000 crore.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on September 15, NSE Managing Director and CEO Ashish Chauhan said demand for the exchange’s IPO had been “unexpectedly large”, despite the smaller anchor book size. He said the number of investors seeking shares was significantly higher than the shares available for allocation.“There is a large number of investors seeking a large number of shares,” Chauhan said, adding that NSE had limited shares to distribute despite strong interest.
Chauhan said the allocation would follow a fixed framework, with separate buckets for domestic mutual funds, non-mutual fund investors and FPIs, with each category receiving shares within its prescribed limits. The NSE IPO is entirely an offer for sale by existing shareholders and the exchange will not receive any proceeds from the issue.
Chauhan said NSE does not need to raise fresh capital, pointing to its strong profitability and dividend payout of around ₹8,000 crore last year. The issue opens for public subscription on September 17 and closes on September 21. The lot size has been fixed at eight shares, taking the minimum retail investment at the upper price band to ₹14,280.