IPOs rush in March; 5 companies line up to raise Rs 4,000 cr

Sales would be used for expansion plans, repayment of loans and general corporate purposes

Looking to tap into the upbeat investor sentiment, as many as five companies are expected to hit capital markets next month to raise around Rs 4,000 crore through initial public offerings.

These firms are Avenue Supermarts, owner and operator of supermarket retail chain D-Mart; Music Broadcast Ltd, a Jagran group firm that runs Radio City FM channel; Shankara Building Product; BSE-promoted CDSL; and test-prep player C L Educate.

These five companies are expected to come out with their IPOs (initial public offers) in March to garner Rs 3,860 crore, sources said.

Proceeds from the sales would be primarily used for expansion plans, repayment of loans and general corporate purposes.

So far this year, Asia's oldest stock exchange BSE got listed on the rival NSE's platform.

The year 2016 saw hectic fund-raising activities in the IPO segment as a total of 26 firms collected over Rs 26,000 crore through IPOs - making it the best one for public offers since 2010.

Avenue Supermarts plans to come out with its Rs 1,870-crore IPO on March 8. The bidding for shares will close on March 10.

This will be the biggest public issue since PNB Housing Finance's offering in October last year, which had garnered Rs 3,000 crore.

Music Broadcast's IPO — comprises fresh issue of equity shares up to Rs 400 crore and an offer for sale of up to 26.59 lakh equity scrips — will be open for public subscription during March 6-8.

Sale of shares via OFS route may rake in Rs 90 crore, sources said.

MBL, which owns and operates Radio City, has a pan India presence with radio stations in 37 cities.

Bengaluru-based retailer Shankara Building Products plans to garner Rs 600 crore through initial share-sale plan. It includes fresh issuance of shares worth Rs 500 crore and an offer for sale of 6,618,366 equity scrips by the existing shareholders.

CDSL is expected to raise Rs 500 crore through its initial public offering. Going by the DRHP, CDSL has to list before March 31.

A little over 3.5 crore shares would be offloaded by the depository firms through the Offer for Sale route, and out of the total, 7 lakh shares would be reserved for the employees.

Net offer would constitute 32.98 per cent of CDSL's post offer paid up equity share capital. BSE, which holds 50.05 per cent stake in the entity, got listed on the stock exchange earlier this month.

CL Educate is expected to raise Rs 400 crore through its initial public offer comprising fresh issue of 20,60,652 shares and an offer for sale of up to 26,29,881 scrips by existing shareholders.