Shares of ideaForge Technology made an exceptional debut on the bourses today. On NSE, the stock listed at ₹1,300, a premium of 93.45 percent or ₹628 versus its issue price of ₹672. On BSE as well, the stock listed at ₹1,305.10, a premium of 94.21 percent or ₹633.10.
The initial public offering (IPO) of the drone maker received robust demand from all sections of investors. It was subscribed 106.06 times in the four days of bidding (June 26-30). The issue received bids for 49.30 crore shares as compared to 46.48 lakh shares on offer. Its Qualified Institutional Buyers’ (QIB) quota was subscribed the most, 125.81 times, followed by the retail investor portion which saw subscription 85.20 times. Meanwhile, the Non-Institutional Investors' (NII) category was booked 80.58 times.
The ₹567-crore ideaForge IPO was open for subscription between June 26 and 30 at a price band of ₹638-672. The IPO comprised of a fresh issue of equity shares worth up to ₹240 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 48.6 lakh shares by selling shareholders. The fresh issue portion from the offer was reduced from ₹300 after the firm raised ₹60 crore by offloading 8.92 lakh shares to institutional investors in a pre-IPO placement round.
The net proceeds from the fresh issue will be utilised by the company for repaying debts, working capital requirements, and investment in product development, besides general corporate purposes.
ideaForge holds a significant market share of approximately 50 percent in the Indian unmanned aircraft systems ("UAS") market as of fiscal 2022. The company boasts the largest operational deployment of indigenous drones across India, with an ideaForge-manufactured drone taking off every five minutes on average for surveillance and mapping purposes, as per the company's DRHP report.
Founded in 2007 by Ankit Mehta, Rahul Singh, and Ashish Bhat, ideaForge made early strides in the UAV market in India and became the first organization to indigenously develop and manufacture VTOL UAVs in 2009.
Most brokerages had assigned a ‘subscribe’ call on the issue given its favourable valuations, complex/wide product portfolio, presence in niche space, strong client relationship, and high entry barriers. Given the current buoyant market and high interest in defence stocks, the issue could see listing gains as well, they said.
