Shares of specialty marine chemical manufacturer Archean Chemical made a strong market debut today. The stock listed at ₹450 per share vs its issue price of ₹407 per share, a premium of 10.5 percent on the NSE. Meanwhile, on BSE, it listed at ₹449, a premium of 10 percent. The ₹805-crore initial public offering opened for subscription on November 9 and closed on November 11. The company had fixed the IPO price band at ₹386-407 per share.
The stock hit a high of ₹476 in intra-day deals, up 17 percent from its issue price.
The issue was subscribed 32.23 times. It received bids for 64,31,70,528 shares against 1,99,57,325 shares on offer, according to data available with the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
The portion of qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed 48.91 times, while those of non-institutional investors was subscribed 14.90 times and that of retail individual investors (RIIs) was subscribed 9.96 times, the data showed.
The IPO consisted of a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to ₹805 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 1.61 crore shares by the promoter and investors, including the India Resurgence Fund, a joint venture between the Piramal Group and Bain Capital.
Archean Chemical Industries Ltd is focused on producing and exporting bromine, industrial salt, and sulphate of potash to customers around the world. It produces products from its brine reserves in the Rann of Kutch, located on the coast of Gujarat, and manufactures products at its facility near Hajipir in Gujarat.
The firm raised ₹658 crore from 42 anchor investors at the upper price band of ₹407 per equity share. The specialty marine chemical manufacturer allocated 1,61,67,991 equity shares to anchor investors including SBI Mutual Fund, Nippon India Fund, ICICI Prudential, HDFC Mutual Fund, Goldman Sachs Fund, Ashoka India Opportunities Fund, DSP Fund, IIFL Funds, Kotak Fund Motilal Fund, Tata Mutual Fund, Theleme India Fund, Baroda BNP Paribas Fund and Edelweiss Fund.
The majority of brokerage firms were positive on the issue and have suggested subscribing to it. However, some were cautious due to expensive valuations.
Reliance Securities recommended ‘subscribing’ to the issue in view of the company’s leading market position, integrated production, cost efficiencies, consistent financial performance, high entry barriers, experienced management team and attractive valuation.
