Street Signs: Likely vacuum at Sebi, drone maker IdeaForge IPO, and more

Likely room at the top at Sebi

In about a month, capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) could stare at two crucial vacant positions as the tenure of its whole-time members (WTMs) ends. S K Mohanty’s term ends this week, while that of Ananta Barua’s a month later. “Both outgoing WTMs have spent nearly five years. There could be a void at the top. If the government doesn’t fill the vacancies fast, the workload could pile up,” observes a person privy to the regulator’s workings. Applications for these positions were invited between March and April. A year ago, Sebi was forced to function with only two WTMs for several months.

US bond fund a lodestone for HNIs

Bandhan Mutual Fund’s US Treasury Bond Fund is seeing traction from high networth individuals (HNIs) as foreign investments through the liberalised remittance scheme route have become unattractive after the rule to impose 20 per cent tax collected at source. The fund, which was launched at the end of March this year, recently crossed Rs 100 crore in assets under management, with HNIs accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the assets. According to the fund house, the US bond fund is being used for the creation of a foreign currency corpus to meet expenses such as international travel and overseas education for children. The fund feeds into exchange-traded funds, which invest in US Treasury bonds in the maturity range of zero to a year.

ideaForge’s drone gains altitude

Shares of drone maker ideaForge Technology are commanding a premium of nearly 70 per cent in the grey market ahead of its initial public offering (IPO). The Qualcomm-backed company’s Rs 567-crore IPO, which opens on Monday, is expected to see huge oversubscription, as retail and high networth individuals make big bucks off the back of a buoyant market sentiment. On Friday, the pioneer and the pre-eminent market leader in Indian unmanned aircraft systems allotted shares worth Rs 255 crore to anchor investors, which included the likes of PineBridge Investments, Nomura, Tata AIG, and Invesco. Meanwhile, the IPO of Cyient DLM — an end-to-end integrated electronic manufacturing services and solutions provider — which opens on Tuesday, is also witnessing an encouraging grey market premium of close to 40 per cent.