Indian whisky maker Allied Blenders up 11% in debut trade (updated)

Allied Blenders and Distillers

02/07/2024 05:47

(Updates shares; adds background and analyst comment from
paragraph 3 onwards)
       BENGALURU, July 2 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian whisky
maker Allied Blenders and Distillers  ALLE.NS  rose 10.7% in
debut trade on Tuesday, valuing the company - which makes the
'Officer's Choice' and 'Sterling Reserve' brands of whiskies -
at 75.87 billion rupees ($908.3 million).
    The stock listed 13.6% higher at 320 rupees on the National
Stock Exchange, compared with its offer price of 281 rupees,
before surrendering some gains. The benchmark Nifty 50  .NSEI 
was flat.
    India's $33 billion spirits market is crowded, currently
dominated by Diageo-owned United Spirits  UNSP.NS  and France's
Pernod Ricard  PERP.PA , which makes the popular 'Chivas Regal'
whisky.
    United Spirits, which makes the 'Johnnie Walker' brand of
whisky, is the larger rival, valued at $11 billion.
    Allied Blenders' initial public offering, at 23 times the
shares on offer, was significantly lower than recent IPOs in
June which were oversubscribed by around a hundred times.
    The absence of big names as part of anchor investors in the
offering and stretched valuations were among the reasons for a
subdued response to the company's IPO, said Kranthi Bathini,
director of equity strategy at Wealthmills.
   
($1 = 83.5370 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane
Venkatraman
)
 ((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com; 8800437922;))