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Firms Garner Rs 1,019 Crore via IPO in April-September: Report

New Delhi: The initial public offers market has not been able to match the bullish sentiment in the overall equity space as a little over Rs 1,000 crore was raised through public offers in the first half of 2014-15, according to a report by Prime Database.

However, Prime Database managing director Pranav Haldea said that a flurry of IPOs are expected in the remaining part of the current financial year, especially in the fourth quarter.

According to Prime Database, as many as 25 companies have collectively mopped up a meagre Rs 1,019 crore through IPOs during April-September 2014.

This was in comparison to Rs 1,050 crore raked in by 16 firms in the six-month period ended September 30, 2013. Significantly, of the 25 IPOs in the first half of the current financial year, 21 were from the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.

There were only four non-SME IPOs worth of Rs 851 crore. However, these accounted for 84 per cent of the total mobilisation.

The largest main board IPO was that of Sharda Cropchem (Rs 352 crore) while the largest SME public offer was that of Momai Apparels (Rs 30 crore).

"...even though a bullish sentiment has prevailed in the market, because very few predicted a landslide victory for NDA of the sort which was witnessed and because the IPO process is time consuming, there will be a lag of a few months before large ticket IPOs hit the market," Mr Haldea said.

At present, five companies planning to raise Rs 1,240 crore are holding Sebi's approval and another 11 firms intending to mop up Rs 4,707 crore have filed draft documents with the market regulator and are awaiting approval.

"Many more filings are likely to be seen and a flurry of IPOs are expected in the balance part of this fiscal, especially Q4," Mr Haldea said.

"The sentiment has received a further boost with overwhelming response, both in terms of over-subscription as well as in terms of listing gains, to the four main board IPOs of the year."

According to Prime Database, "There is some disappointment though on the divestment front, despite a huge target of Rs 58,425 crore for the current financial year and continuing announcements, with half the year already gone, no action has been seen."

The pipeline of divestment/PSU offerings continues to become larger by the day yet none of it has materialised.

Several issues have been announced and then delayed.

"However, the target is expected to be achieved this year with some big disinvestment lined up including that of ONGC, Coal India, SAIL, NHPC, PFC, REC etc," Mr Haldea added.

The report said that a total of Rs 2,593 crore were raised through the offer for sale (OFS) mechanism in the first half of the current fiscal year.