IPO rush continues; Paytm, Sapphire Foods, & Latent View Analytics public issues to open this week

Hectic fundraising through IPOs will continue this week, with three firms -- One97 Communications, owner of Paytm; Sapphire Foods India, which operates KFC and Pizza Hut outlets; and Latent View Analytics -- are set to launch their initial share-sales to collectively mop up about Rs 21,000 crore.

This comes after five companies successfully concluded their public offerings (IPOs) this week.

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Those five firms are FSN E-Commerce Ventures, which runs online marketplace for beauty and wellness products Nykaa; Fino Payments Bank; Policybazaar parent entity PB Fintech; decorative aesthetics supplier SJS Enterprises; and microcrystalline cellulose maker Sigachi Industries.

The three-day IPOs of Paytm, Sapphire Foods India and Latent View Analytics are scheduled to open on November 8, November 9 and November 10, respectively.

So far in 2021, as many as 46 companies have floated their IPOs to raise Rs 80,102 crore and market experts believe that the year should close with the Rs 1-lakh crore primary market fundraising.

Apart from these, PowerGrid InvIT, the infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) sponsored by the Power Grid Corporation of India, mopped up Rs 7,735 crore through its IPO, and Brookfield India Real Estate Trust raised Rs 3,800 crore via its initial share-sale.

The fundraising so far this year is way higher than Rs 26,611 crore collected by 15 companies through initial share-sales in the entire 2020.

Such impressive fundraising through IPOs was last seen in 2017 when firms mobilised Rs 67,147 crore through 36 initial share-sales.

Digital firm One97 Communications, which operates under the Paytm brand name, is set to come out with its Rs 18,300-crore IPO on November 8.

The IPO comprises fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 8,300 crore and Rs 10,000 crore from an offer for sale (OFS) by existing shareholders.

The company has fixed a price band of Rs 2,080-2,150 apiece, implying a valuation of around Rs 1.48 lakh crore.

The Rs 18,300-crore offer, if successful, will be the biggest in the country after Coal India's IPO in 2010, wherein the state-owned company had garnered Rs 15,200 crore.

"The biggest merit for Paytm's IPO would be that they have so much more diversified regulatory access under one roof.

"This focus on diversification means that none of their particular business books has depth, unlike other major players who focus more on specialising," Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of True Beacon and Zerodha, said.

On Wednesday, Paytm raised Rs 8,235 crore from anchor investors.

Sapphire Foods India's public issue will be entirely an offer of sale (OFS) of 17,569,941 equity shares by promoters and existing shareholders.

As part of the OFS, QSR Management Trust will sell 8.50 lakh shares, Sapphire Foods Mauritius Ltd will offload 55.69 lakh shares, WWD Ruby Ltd will divest 48.46 lakh shares and Amethyst will offer 39.62 lakh shares.

In addition, AAJV Investment Trust will sell 80,169 shares, Edelweiss Crossover Opportunities Fund will offload 16.15 lakh shares and Edelweiss Crossover Opportunities Fund-Series II will divest 6.46 lakh shares.

The company has fixed a price band of Rs 1,120-1,180 a share for its IPO. At the upper end of the price band, the initial public offering is expected to fetch Rs 2,073 crore.

Latent View Analytics' IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 474 crore and an offer of sale of equity shares to the tune of Rs 126 crore by a promoter and existing shareholders.

As part of the OFS, promoter Adugudi Viswanathan Venkatraman will offload shares worth Rs 60.14 crore, shareholder Ramesh Hariharan will sell Rs 35 crore shares and Gopinath Koteeswaran will offload Rs 23.52 crore shares among others.

Currently, Venkatraman owns a 69.63 per cent stake in the company, Koteeswaran holds a 7.74 per cent stake and Hariharan has a 9.67 per cent holding in the firm.

The company has set a price band of Rs 190-197 a share for its IPO.

The proceeds from the fresh issue will be used for funding inorganic growth initiatives, working capital requirements of the subsidiary LatentView Analytics Corporation, and investment in subsidiaries to augment their capital base for future growth and general corporate purposes.

The company provides services ranging from data and analytics consulting to business analytics and insights, advanced predictive analytics, data engineering and digital solutions.