The IPO machine is in gear once more. It has been a while since we saw this kind of action on the mainboard – nearly two months of it. But come next month, there are five issues totalling some Rs 3,500 crore in the pipeline. On top of that, five SMEs are looking to raise just under Rs 300 crore in the coming week. For an investor, the primary market is hard to miss these days.
Momentum returns after a volatile start to the year
You can already see the revival in the numbers. CMR Green Technologies was up almost 40 percent on its first day; Hexagon Nutrition put in a 7 per cent gain. It has done something to the risk appetite for new listings, at least after the kind of correction we had earlier in the year that put a damper on sentiment.
What put the brakes on before was a mix of foreign outflows, some unease over valuations, trade-war talk and the usual geopolitical noise. But now the filings are piling up. Word is Zepto has put in its draft papers, and you can expect Reliance Jio and the NSE to be doing the same.
The next wave: fintech and jewellery lead the slate
We have dates for a couple of them. Turtlemint Fintech Solutions, with Nexus Venture Partners in its corner, should be on the market any time between 19th and 23rd June. They are looking to raise in the region of Rs 1,500-2,000 crore to put towards cloud and server set-up, headcount for their tech and product arms, and the like.
Then there is Advit Jewels, a week or so down the line. Their book opens 23rd June and shuts on the 25th. It is a fresh issue of 1.2 crore shares, running to about Rs 150 crore in all. Most of it will be used to shore up working capital and pay down some debt.
They are after different kinds of money, for sure. Turtlemint is a scale-up in insurtech, making the link between the advisor, the customer and the insurer for health, life and motor. Advit is all about the demand for hand-crafted polki, kundan and studded pieces.
Cruises and packaging signal sectoral breadth
Some travel and manufacturing names give the list a bit of heft. Waterways Leisure Tourism, the Mumbai outfit behind Cordelia Cruises, is in the process of an IPO of some Rs 727 crore (with 10 per cent for the retail side). They run domestic as well as international charters to places like Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia.
From Ahmedabad, Knack Packaging is set to put up around Rs 600 crore. Of that, a fresh issue of some Rs 475 crore and an offer-for-sale of 70 lakh shares, with 35 per cent for the retail. The plan is to build out a new plant in Borisana, Kadi.
Knack makes the high-strength printed and laminated woven polypropylene and pinch-bottom bag. If you need six-sided branding, a laser-cut easy-open or an anti-fake measure like an RFID or hot stamp, they have you covered. Word on the street is that Aastha Spintex is up next in the queue.
In any case, here’s a rundown of the key numbers and dates we have so far:
– Turtlemint: Rs 1,500-2,000 crore, with a window from 19th to 23rd June
– Advit Jewels: in the neighbourhood of Rs 150 crore, 23rd to 25th June
SME calendar picks up steam this week
It’s an SME week on the whole, well away from the mainboard. Five IPOs are coming to market for a combined Rs 300 crore or so. Four of them – Liotech Industries, Leapfrog Engineering Services, Clay Craft India and Diksha Polymers – will be open for subscription from 17th to 19th June.
Clay Craft India is the big one. The Jaipur tableware firm is after Rs 110.1 crore at Rs 193-203 a share. Most of it, some Rs 97 crore, is earmarked for a new plant in Manda, Rajasthan; the rest is for the company to put to use as it sees fit.
Then there’s Leapfrog Engineering Services, which is putting together Rs 88.5 crore from 3.84 crore shares (a mix of fresh and offer-for-sale) at a price of Rs 21-23. They’ll be using the money to build out an assembly unit, cover working capital and the like.
Liotech has come out with a fixed-price issue for 9 lakh new shares and 2.22 lakh from the promoters. The hardware maker wants to put that to work on machinery, paying off some debt and for general needs.
And Diksha Polymers? They’re looking to raise Rs 17.9 crore at Rs 112 per share for their 15.98 lakh shares. All four of these will be done and dusted by 19th June.
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A latecomer to the party
You can also count on Avience Biomedicals, a diagnostics name, to be the fifth SME to open its doors. It starts on 18th June with a band of Rs 196-208. They want to put aside Rs 30.2 crore to get a new unit in Uttar Pradesh off the ground, among other things.
What’s on the horizon**
The market will be watching how some new listings are received. Utkal Speciality Industries India makes its NSE Emerge debut on 17th. Susan Electricals India and Horizon Reclaim (India) follow on the BSE SME on the 18th and 19th.
For those on the mainboard, eyes will be on Waterways Leisure Tourism and Knack Packaging for final word on pricing and when they’ll be ready. We should also get some sense of what Aastha Spintex has in store. Don’t be surprised if investors are poring over the retail quotas, too – there’s a lot of give and take between issues.
If the way recent debuts have been received holds, you could see a more active second half from the Rs 3,500 crore of fintech, jewellery and the like in the pipeline. And if we see any movement on the draft filings from the likes of Zepto, Reliance Jio or the NSE, it will only make for a fuller docket.
