Vodafone Idea has allotted 4.9 billion shares to anchor investors at Rs 11 each, the top end of the price band, in order to raise Rs 5,400 crore.
In total, 74 schemes received allotments in the anchor category, with US-based GQG Partners subscribing to Rs 1,347 crore in shares, accounting for roughly a quarter of the available shares. Other major subscribers included Fidelity, Stichting, Redwheel, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund, and Troo Capital.
According to sources, demand in the anchor investor category was two to three times greater than the number of shares available. "The higher demand will spill over onto the main book," said a banker overseeing the share sale. He also stated that GQG plans to invest more in the main book. Furthermore, as per the initial estimates, GQG was planning an investment of more over Rs 4,000 crore in the Vodafone Idea FPO.
The allottees were determined during a meeting of Vodafone Idea's 'capital raising committee' on Tuesday at 11:45 p.m.
An anchor allotment is made one day before the follow-on public offering (FPO) begins. Because Wednesday is a market holiday, Vodafone Idea's Rs 18,000 crore FPO, India's largest ever, will open for subscriptions on Thursday and close on Monday. The investment banks that manage the FPO include Axis Capital, Jefferies India, and SBI Capital.
The anchor allotment was the third-largest, following Paytm (Rs 8,325 crore) and LIC (Rs 5,627 crore). Of the overall anchor book, 16.2% was allocated to five domestic mutual funds — HDFC, Motilal Oswal, Quant, Baroda BNP, and 360One — via 11 schemes.
Market participants said the encouraging demand exhibited in the anchor category will help optimism ahead of the struggling telecom company's FPO. The company has been losing subscribers to bigger rivals such as Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel. Vodafone Idea has established an FPO price band of Rs 10-11 per share. The Vodafone Idea shares closed at Rs 12.9 on Tuesday, down 1.9% from the previous close. The higher end of the price band is almost 15% below the current stock price.
