Ahead of IPO, Akums Drugs garners Rs 829 crore from anchor investors

Akum Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd on Monday said it has collected Rs 829 crore from anchor investors a day before its share-sale opening for public subscription.

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Smallcap World Fund, Inc, HSBC Global Investment Funds, SBI Mutual Fund (MF), Bandhan MF, Motilal Oswal MF, Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, SBI Life Insurance Company, HDFC Life Insurance Company and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company are among the anchor investors.

According to a circular uploaded on NSE's website, the company has decided to allocate 1.22 crore shares to 50 funds at Rs 679 apiece, aggregating the transaction size to Rs 828.78 crore.

The issue, with a price band of Rs 646 to Rs 679 per share, will open for public subscription on July 30 and conclude on August 1.

The Rs 1,875-crore IPO is a combination of a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 680 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 1.73 crore shares valued at Rs 1,177 crore at the upper end of the price band by promoters and an existing investor.

Those selling shares in the OFS are Sanjeev Jain, Sandeep Jain and Ruby QC Investment Holdings Pte Ltd.

Proceeds from the fresh issue will be used to repay debt, fund the working capital requirements of the company, pursue inorganic growth initiatives through acquisition, and for general corporate purposes.

Brokerage houses have pegged the company's market capitalisation at Rs 10,697 crore post-issue.

The company said that 75 per cent of the issue size has been reserved for qualified institutional buyers, 15 per cent for non-institutional investors and the remaining 10 per cent for retail investors.

Investors can bid for a minimum of 22 equity shares and in multiples thereof.

Founded in 2004, Akums is a pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), offering a comprehensive range of pharmaceutical products and services in India and overseas.

As of September 30, 2023, key clients for the company's CDMO business include Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Alkem Laboratories, Cipla, Dabur India, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Hetero Healthcare, Ipca Laboratories, Mankind Pharma, MedPlus Health Services, Micro Labs, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Natco Pharma, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, and Amishi Consumer Technologies (The Mom's Co).

ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, Citigroup Global Markets India and Ambit Pvt Ltd are the running lead managers to the issue.