Top investors in India's NSE IPO trim stake sales, sources say

Some top investors in India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) are reducing the number of shares they will be selling in the bourse’s upcoming IPO as they expect the shares to rise after listing compared to the low offer price, three sources said.

NSE’s IPO will be an offer-for-sale by existing shareholders with no fresh capital being raised. Shares will likely be priced in a band of 1,700-1,785 rupees per share, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

At the upper end of the price band, NSE’s IPO will be worth 226 billion Indian rupees ($2.37 billion). It will likely trail a public offering by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio expected to raise $3.8 billion and Hyundai Motor India’s $3.3 billion issue of 2024.

The shareholders who have reduced the number of shares they are selling in the offer for sale this month include National Insurance Co. of India, General Insurance Company, Stock Holding Corporation, MS Strategic (Mauritius) - a Morgan Stanley fund - and Singapore-based Mahogany Ltd, two of the people said.

NSE likely to price IPO at 1,700-1,785 Indian rupees per share, source says

The sources declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media. The NSE and all the shareholders named by the sources did not immediately respond to email requests for comment.

Indian lenders Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank have also reduced their planned share sales, they said in notifications to the local stock exchange.

The overall issue size will be reduced to 5.2% of NSE’s total equity capital from 6% earlier, the sources said. Shareholders will now sell 126 million shares compared with 149 million earlier, one of the sources said.

The primary reason for the reduced share sales is the lower-than-expected price band, a second source said.

“These shareholders believe they will get better valuation in secondary market post listing,” the source said.

In an informal market where unlisted shares of NSE trade, the price has ranged from 2,000 rupees to 2,100 rupees, according to recent deals.

Tighter market rules have weighed on the likely pricing of the issue, all three sources said.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India last year announced tighter curbs on retail participation in the options trading market. Tighter bank funding curbs, higher taxes on derivatives trading and India’s newly launched closing auction session have also weighed on trading volumes.

“A drop in options volume is driving the valuation lower, and closing auction only worsened it,” said one of the three sources.

Over 60% of the exchange’s revenue comes from options transaction charges. NSE options turnover fell more than 12% year-on-year in August.