NSE IPO: Exchange raises Rs 6,746 crore from 189 anchor investors; LIC, GIC, Fidelity among buyers

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has raised Rs 6,746.18 crore from anchor investors ahead of its IPO. According to the company’s circular, it allocated 3,77,93,739 equity shares at Rs 1,785 apiece to anchor investors, including 98 mutual fund schemes and 27 life insurance companies.

The anchor book saw strong interest from 189 investors, with the exchange being viewed as a proxy to the 'India story'. Market sources said demand for shares in the anchor portion was nearly Rs 1.2 lakh crore, or about 20 times the anchor book size.

Foreign institutional demand was strong, with investors from the US, Europe and Asia participating across categories such as sovereign wealth funds, regional long-only funds and global mutual funds. More than 20 foreign long-only funds took part in the book, while foreign portfolio investors put in Rs 2,883 crore, or 43 per cent of the total anchor book.

The NSE IPO will open for bidding on Thursday, September 17 and will close for subscription on Monday, September 21. Price band for the issue is Rs 1,700-1,785 apeice with a lot size of 8 equity shares, The company is eyeing to raise a total of Rs 22,568 crore from its maiden stake sale, which is entirely an offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 12.64 crore equity shares.

Investors in the foreign segment included sovereign wealth funds such as GIC Singapore, ADIA and Norges Bank. Other investors included Fidelity, GSAM, Eastspring, Zurich Invest Institutional Funds, FLC Investco, Globe Fincap, BofA Securities Europe, ACM Master Fund, Societe Generale and HSBC GAM.

Domestic participation was spread across mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds and other institutions. The investors included SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential, HDFC MF, Nippon MF, Axis MF, Aditya Birla MF, Kotak MF, UTI MF, Mirae MF, Tata MF, Franklin Templeton MF, Edelweiss MF, HSBC MF and LIC MF. Insurance companies and related investors included LIC, HDFC Life, SBI Life and SBI General, along with leading pension funds.

More than 25 large domestic mutual funds and 11 large domestic insurance and pension companies invested around Rs 3,588 crore, accounting for 53 per cent of the total anchor book. The company also said several existing investors added to their private investment.

NSE is among the top five holdings of LIC. LIC, the largest shareholder in NSE with a 10.72 per cent stake, which is larger than the offer size, participated in the anchor book through LIC, LIC Mutual Funds and LIC Pension Funds, investing more than Rs 500 crore.

The SBI group, which is selling a 1 per cent stake through SBI Bank and SBI Capital in NSE, also invested in the anchor book through SBI Mutual Fund, SBI General, SBI Life and SBI Pension, with investments of more than Rs 400 crore. Overall, the anchor book drew broad-based participation from domestic and overseas investors ahead of the IPO.