India's JSW Infrastructure jumps 31% in trading debut (updated)

R R Kabel

03/10/2023 06:29

(Updates valuation in paragraph 1)
       BENGALURU, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Shares of JSW
Infrastructure  JSWN.NS , India's No.2 commercial port operator,
climbed as much as 31.4% in their first day of trading on
Tuesday, valuing the company at 330.33 billion rupees  ($3.97
billion).
    The stock opened at 143 rupees, before jumping to a high of
157.3 rupees and holding above its initial public offer price
(IPO) of 119 rupees. The broader market was down 0.5%.
    JSW Infra is part of the billionaire Sajjan Jindal-led JSW
Group and is the first business of the steel-to-software
conglomerate to go public since JSW Energy  JSWE.NS  in 2010.
    The company follows a host of successful debutantes in the
past few months -- ranging from wires and cables maker RR Kabel
 RRKA.NS  to Concord Biotech  CONB.NS  -- helped by robust
investor appetite that has also powered the blue-chip stock
market index to a record high.
    So far this year, 277 Indian companies have gone public,
raising $6.62 billion, compared with 172 companies that raised
$10.53 billion in the same period last year, according to LSEG
data.
    JSW Infra raised 28 billion rupees through the sale of fresh
shares. Jindal, his family trust and members of the promoter
group -- an Indian market term for large shareholders who can
influence company policy -- will have an 85.61% stake in the
company.    
    JSW Infra's profit more than doubled to 7.50 billion rupees
in fiscal 2023, while its revenue from operations jumped about
41% to 31.95 billion rupees, according to the prospectus.
    The company plans to nearly double its operational capacity
to 300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2030, but that would
still trail Adani Ports's  APSE.NS  current capacity of about
558 MMTPA.
    Adani Ports, a listed unit of billionaire Gautam Adani's
namesake conglomerate, has a market value of about 1.78 trillion
rupees.

($1 = 83.2070 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio
D'Souza)
 ((ramavenkat.raman@thomsonreuters.com; https://twitter.com/ramavenkat0607;
 +91 8095218099;))