Archean Chemical Industries garners Rs 658 cr from anchor investors ahead of IPO

Speciality marine chemical manufacturer Archean Chemical Industries has raised Rs 658 crore from anchor investors ahead of its initial public offering, which will open on Wednesday.

The initial share sale of the chemical manufacturer will conclude on November 11.

The firm has allocated 1,61,67,991 equity shares to anchor investors at Rs 407 apiece, aggregating the transaction size to Rs 658 crore, according to a circular uploaded on BSE's website on Monday.

Goldman Sachs, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Segantii India Mauritius, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Government Pension Fund Global, ICICI Prudential, DSP Small Cap Fund, Tata Mutual

Fund (MF), SBI MF, Nippon India MF and Aditya Birla Sunlife Insurance have invested in the company via anchor book.

The IPO consists of a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 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 Piramal Group and Bain Capital.

Promoter Chemikas Speciality will sell 20 lakh shares via OFS, while investors Piramal Natural Resources and India Resurgence Fund will sell 38.35 lakh shares each. India Resurgence Fund II will divest 64.78 lakh shares.

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

The company has fixed a price band of Rs 386-407 per share. At the upper end of the price band, the IPO is expected to fetch Rs 1,462.3 crore.

The firm plans to use the proceeds of the fresh issue for the redemption of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) issued by it.

Investors can bid for a minimum of 36 shares and in multiples thereof.

Archean 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.

IIFL Securities, ICICI Securities and JM Financial are the book-running lead managers to the IPO.