Avenue Supermarts IPO a huge hit; oversubscribed 104.5 times

The initial public offer of Avenue Supermarts, the operator of retail chain D-Mart, to raise Rs 1,870 crore has been oversubscribed by a staggering 104.48 times at the end of the three-day bidding on Friday.

The IPO, the biggest since PNB Housing Finance's Rs 3,000 crore offer in October last year, received    bids for 463.61 crore shares against the total issue size of 4.43 crore shares, as per data available with the NSE till 1830 hrs.

The portion set aside for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was oversubscribed 144.6 times and that of non institutional investors 277.74 times, sources said. Retail investors category was also oversubscribed 7.36 times.

Last year, the IPO of Advanced Enzyme was oversubscribed 116 times and that of Quess Corp by 145 times. 

Avenue Supermarts on Tuesday raised nearly Rs 561 crore by allotting shares to anchor investors. The price band for the IPO has been set at Rs 295-299.

"We expect IPO markets to remain robust as we continue to expect IPOs of companies with robust business models, strong brand recall, high corporate governance levels and stories which play on the shift from unorganized to organised segments," said Subhrajit Roy, Executive Director and Head ECM Origination, Kotak Investment Banking.

Avenue Supermarts plans to raise Rs 1,870 crore through the IPO and the proceeds would be utilised for various purposes, including loan repayment.

Nine merchant bankers -- Kotak Mahindra Capital, Axis Capital, Edelweiss Financial Services, HDFC Bank, ICICI Securities, JM Financial Institutional Securities, Inga Capital, SBI Capital Markets and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors -- are managing the offer.