Bajaj Housing Finance draws bids worth $39 bln in hottest India IPO this year

Aadhar Housing Finance

11/09/2024 14:22

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      Investors bid for 64 times the shares on offer
    

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      Institutional investors bid for 209x the shares
    

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      Lender expected to benefit from luxury homes demand
    

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      Analysts expect sharp gains in Sept. 16 listing
    

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      Indian IPOs fetch $7 bln YTD, twice vs same period last yr
    

  
    By Dimpal Gulwani and Bharath Rajeswaran
       BENGALURU, Sept 11 (Reuters) - India's Bajaj Housing
Finance  BAJO.NS  attracted bids worth about $38.60 billion, or
nearly 64 times the shares on offer, making it the most
sought-after major public listing this year in a red-hot IPO
market.
    The interest in the company's public offer -- the most this
year among mainboard IPOs worth more than $500 million -- was
due to the lender's prospects in a booming home loan market and
came during the busiest week for Indian IPOs in 2024.
    Bajaj Housing Finance, a unit of non-bank lender Bajaj
Finance  BJFN.NS , will become India's largest listed home loan
financier, with its $782 million IPO valuing the company at $7
billion.
    Analysts attribute the rush for the lender's offering to
strong demand for loans for luxury homes, attractive IPO pricing
and confidence in the pedigree of the nearly 100-year-old Bajaj
group, which also has auto and consumer goods businesses.
    Bajaj Housing Finance is raising $424 million in the float
by issuing new shares, while Bajaj Finance is selling shares
worth $357 million. It set a price band of 66-70 rupees a share.
    Analysts expect the interest to sustain after the company
lists on the exchange on Monday, Sept. 16.
    "Given the demand of the IPO and the oversubscription
levels, the stock should see a substantial premium and list at
100 rupees," said Asutosh Mishra, research head at Ashika Stock
Broking.
    The shares set aside for large institutions, including
foreign institutional investors, banks and mutual funds, were
oversubscribed by 209 times, while retail investors bid for
about seven times the shares on offer.
    About 200 companies have raised more than $7 billion this
year, more than double the amount raised during the same period
last year, in a booming stock market  .NSEI  that has hit record
highs more than 50 times this year, LSEG data showed.    
    The last IPO from a home loan financier was by Aadhar
Housing Finance  AADA.NS  in May and was oversubscribed by about
26 times.
 
 ($1 = 83.9620 Indian rupees)

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India's top main-board IPOs in 2024 by issue size India's top
main-board IPOs in 2024 by issue size    https://reut.rs/4gjDOMI
India's main-board IPOs in 2024 by subscription India's
main-board IPOs in 2024 by subscription    https://reut.rs/3XDRF9d
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 (Reporting by Dimpal Gulwani and Bharath Rajeswaran in
Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
 ((Dimpal.Gulwani@thomsonreuters.com;))