Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Franklin Templeton, and Fidelity International Ltd. are prominent global investors set to be anchor investors in the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.'s (NSE) initial public offering. The bourse is preparing to raise as much as 226 billion rupees ($2.4 billion) through this offering. This participation by major global funds in the anchor book signifies strong institutional confidence and market validation for the IPO, potentially reassuring retail and domestic investors about the company's valuation and growth prospects.
Other significant institutions expected to subscribe to the anchor book include Norges Bank Investment Management, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Singapore's GIC, Eastspring Investments Services Pte Ltd., Millennium Management, Marshall Wace, Citadel Capital, and Ghisallo Capital Management. The anchor portion of the IPO is likely to be valued at approximately 6,800 crore rupees, which is less than a third of the truncated IPO size, consisting entirely of an offer for sale by existing investors.
The NSE IPO has set a price band of 1,700-1,785 rupees per share. The anchor book, which allows institutional investors to bid for and secure allocations before the public share sale, opened on September 16, with public subscription scheduled from September 17 to September 21. Shares allotted through the anchor book are subject to post-listing lock-ins, restricting investors from selling 50% for 30 days and the remaining 50% for 90 days.
While major sovereign wealth funds and asset managers like Goldman Sachs, Franklin Templeton, and Fidelity are participating, some prominent global asset managers, including Capital Group, BlackRock, Aberdeen, FMR, and T. Rowe Price, are reportedly skipping the offering due to valuation concerns and regulatory risks. The NSE had to reduce its price band from an initially marketed range of 2,000-2,100 rupees, signaling a rebalancing between growth prospects and investor skepticism over regulatory headwinds, particularly concerning new restrictions on speculative derivatives trading, which has historically been a major revenue driver for NSE. The IPO is expected to be India's second-largest, after Hyundai Motor India Ltd.'s $3.3 billion share sale in October 2024.
