KKR-backed LEAP India falls in trading debut, valued at $725 million

Shares of KKR-backed LEAP India fell 5.3% in their trading debut on Friday, valuing the supply chain logistics firm at 69.18 billion Indian rupees ($725.2 million).

The shares listed at 165.9 rupees apiece on the National Stock Exchange of India, a premium of 4.3% to their issue price of 159 rupees.

 The KKR-backed firm had received bids for 8.38 times the number of shares on offer in a $260 million IPO.

The IPO comprised a fresh issue of shares worth $50.3 million and an offer-for-sale of $209.7 million, mostly by KKR-backed Vertical Holdings II.

The trading debut comes in a subdued market, with the benchmark Nifty 50 index down 0.2%.

Retail investors subscribed 1.71 times the shares reserved for them, on valuation concerns, analysts said.

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“Declining EBITDA margins despite rapid scale-up, sensitivity to utilisation and asset recovery, and the absence of direct listed peers temper near-term earnings visibility and valuation comfort,” Arihant Capital said in a note last week.

Vertical Holdings II sold about $39 million worth of shares in LEAP India in a private placement ahead of the public launch of the IPO.