By Dimpal Gulwani and Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s Bajaj Housing Finance [BAJO.NS] attracted bids worth about $38.60 billion, or nearly 64 times the shares on offer, making it the most sought-after major public listing this year in a red-hot IPO market.
The interest in the company’s public offer — the most this year among mainboard IPOs worth more than $500 million — was due to the lender’s prospects in a booming home loan market and came during the busiest week for Indian IPOs in 2024.
Bajaj Housing Finance, a unit of non-bank lender Bajaj Finance, will become India’s largest listed home loan financier, with its $782 million IPO valuing the company at $7 billion.
Analysts attribute the rush for the lender’s offering to strong demand for loans for luxury homes, attractive IPO pricing and confidence in the pedigree of the nearly 100-year-old Bajaj group, which also has auto and consumer goods businesses.
Bajaj Housing Finance is raising $424 million in the float by issuing new shares, while Bajaj Finance is selling shares worth $357 million. It set a price band of 66-70 rupees a share.
Analysts expect the interest to sustain after the company lists on the exchange on Monday, Sept. 16.
“Given the demand of the IPO and the oversubscription levels, the stock should see a substantial premium and list at 100 rupees,” said Asutosh Mishra, research head at Ashika Stock Broking.
The shares set aside for large institutions, including foreign institutional investors, banks and mutual funds, were oversubscribed by 209 times, while retail investors bid for about seven times the shares on offer.
About 200 companies have raised more than $7 billion this year, more than double the amount raised during the same period last year, in a booming stock market that has hit record highs more than 50 times this year, LSEG data showed.
The last IPO from a home loan financier was by Aadhar Housing Finance in May and was oversubscribed by about 26 times. ($1 = 83.9620 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Dimpal Gulwani and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
