Adani Enterprises’ Rs 20,000-cr FPO sails through, but sees muted response from retail investors, employees

Amid much drama, Adani Enterprises’ Rs 20,000-crore follow-on public offer (FPO) sailed through on Day 3 of share sale, but saw muted response from retail investors, employees. The quota reserved for qualified institutional bidders (QIBs) was booked 1.26 times while those of non-institutional investors got 3.26 times subscription. 

The share sale of Adani Group’s flagship firm was fully subscribed on Tuesday after non-retail investors bid in big volumes, according to stock exchange data.

As of available BSE data at 3:15 pm on Tuesday, as many as 4.62 crore shares were sought as against the 4.55 crore shares on offer. 

After the Adani Enterprises’ stock got battered owing US short-seller firm Hindenburg Research’s scathing report on the conglomerate’s allegedly questionable operations, lot of doubts were raised on the future of the FPO with the share price falling below the price band fixed for the FPO.

Non-institutional investors put in bids for over three times the 96.16 lakh shares reserved for them, while the 1.28 crore shares reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was almost fully subscribed, according to BSE data.

There was, however, muted response from retail investors and company employees.

Retail investors, for whom roughly half of the issue was reserved, bid for just 11 per cent of the 2.29 crore shares earmarked for them. Employees sought 52 per cent of the 1.6 lakh shares reserved for them.

The FPO got a shot in the arm on Monday when Abu Dhabi conglomerate International Holding CompanyIHC.AD on Monday said it would invest Rs 3,200 crore in the FPO.

The Abu Dhabi conglomerate is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser and a brother of the UAE’s president. It has seen a meteoric rise to dominate Abu Dhabi’s stock market, with two of its subsidiaries among the top four companies by valuation.