A day before its IPO is set to open for bids, on April 2, Bharti Hexacom, a fully owned subsidiary of telecom giant Bharti Airtel, received Rs 1,923.75 crore from anchor investors. This will be the first initial public offering (IPO) for the new fiscal year FY25, as well as the first from the Bharti Group since the December 2012 debut of the Bharti Infratel issue.
Prominent names such as Blackrock Global Funds, Pictet, Smallcap World Fund, Capital Group, American Funds, Fidelity Funds, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority were among the 97 institutional investors who had closely examined the anchor book.
Anchor investors were Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Stichting Depository APG, Aberdeen, Schroder International, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Equity Investment Fund, BNP Paribas Trust Services Singapore, and Eastspring Investments.
In a statement to the markets, the provider of internet, mobile, and fixed-line services announced that it had completed the distribution of 3,37,50,000 equity shares to anchor investors, at a cost of Rs 570 per share.
In addition, the company received investments from domestic fund houses such as SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life Trustee, Axis Mutual Fund, Kotak Mutual Fund, Nippon Life India, Mirae Asset, UTI Mutual Fund, Franklin, Tata Mutual Fund, DSP Mutual Fund, Whiteoak Capital, Sundaram Mutual Fund, Bandhan Mutual Fund, and PGIM India.
"Out of the total allocation of 3,37,50,000equity shares to anchor investors, 1,38,77,630 equity shares were allocated to 22domestic mutual funds through a total of 55 schemes," stated Bharti Hexacom.
Notable insurers included on the list of anchor investors were Canara HSBC Life Insurance, Tata AIA Life Insurance, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance, SBI Life Insurance, HDFC Life Insurance, and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company.
With a price range of Rs 542-570 per share, the Bharti Hexacom IPO opens for subscription on April 3 and ends on April 5.
The business, which specializes in the telecom circles in Rajasthan and the Northeast of India, plans to raise Rs 4,275 crore through a public offering that comprises only of an offer-for-sale (OFS) from Telecommunications Consultants India.
The sole public shareholder in Bharti Hexacom, Telecommunications Consultants India, is using the OFS method to dilute its 15% stake—or 7.5 crore equity shares—out of its overall 30% holdings.
Seventy percent of the business is owned by promoter Bharti Airtel. In the Bharti Hexacom initial public offering (IPO), up to 75% of the shares have been set aside for eligible institutional buyers, 10% for retail buyers, and the remaining 15% for non-institutional buyers (high net worth people).
