By Kashish Tandon
(Reuters) -HDB Financial Services’ $1.5 billion initial public offering was fully subscribed on the second day of bidding as investors lined up for India’s biggest offering so far this year amid signs of a recovery in the capital market.
The non-bank lender received bids for 1.16 times the shares on offer, exchange data showed at the end of bidding on Thursday.
Top Indian private lender HDFC Bank, which holds a 94% stake in HDB, is selling shares worth up to 100 billion rupees, while HDB is issuing new shares worth 25 billion rupees.
HDB set a price band of 700-740 rupees for the three-day share sale that ends on Friday.
The stock is expected to start trading on exchanges on July 2.
Non-institutional investors bid for more than twice the portion set aside for them. Retail investors bid for 64% for their allotted portion, while qualified institutional buyers, such as foreign investors and mutual funds, bid for 90%.
HDB on Tuesday raised $392 million from anchor investors, including BlackRock funds, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund.
The offering comes as foreign investors return to Indian stocks after a major exodus, attracted by big-ticket block trades, which often precede a recovery in IPOs.
“The offering shows a recovery in IPO markets with sentiment improving and overall economic growth remaining resilient,” said Narendra Solanki, an analyst at Anand Rathi.
The benchmark Nifty 50 has rebounded nearly 18% from a one-year low hit in April, but still remains below record highs reached last September.
(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Anil D’Silva and Sonia Cheema)
