Bikaji Foods raises ₹262 crore form anchor investors; over 40% shares bought by mutual funds

• FMCG company Bikaji Foods International is planning to raise ₹881 crore via a public offer.
• The IPO is open for subscription from today, November 3, and will conclude on November 7.
• The price band of the issue is fixed at ₹285-₹300 per share.

FMCG company Bikaji Foods International raised ₹262 crore from anchor investors, the company said on Thursday. It has allocated 87.37 lakh shares to 36 anchor investors at the upper price band of ₹300 per share.

The mutual fund industry got a huge pie of the shares reserved for anchor investors – 42.16% of the total anchor book size was allocated to 10 mutual funds through 17 schemes amounting to ₹110.51 crore.

Tata Mutual Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Canara Robeco, ICICI Prudential MF, WhiteOak Capital, Nippon Life India, Kotak MF, Quant MF, HDFC MF and Edelweiss MF were the mutual funds that were allocated shares in the company.

These were followed by foreign portfolio investors including Eastspring Investments, Morgan Stanley, Government of Singapore, Nomura, Blackrock, Neuberger Berman, Carmignac, Goldman Sachs, Bay Capital and Kotak Funds.

Anchor investors are marquee institutional investors who are allotted shares in an IPO before the issue opens to the public. As the name suggests, they ‘anchor’ the IPO issue by agreeing to subscribe to shares at a fixed price, thereby indicating a healthy demand for the soon-to-be listed shares.

The Bikaji Foods International IPO is a complete offer-for-sale by promoters and shareholders and intends to raise ₹881 crore. The price band is fixed at ₹285-₹300 per share.

Shares of the company are currently commanding a grey market premium (GMP) of ₹75 per share. Grey market premium is a premium at which IPO shares are traded in an unofficial market before they are listed on the stock exchange.

Bikaji Foods International is the third largest player in the Indian branded snack industry with 9% market share after Haldiram and Balaji.

In FY22, Bikaji Foods International’s profit came down by 15.6% to ₹76 crore from ₹90 crore in FY21 due to raw material inflation. Meanwhile its revenue rose to ₹1,610 crore in FY22 from ₹1,310 crore a year earlier.
Its profits are also being impacted by a number of factors, including product pricing, raw materials, labour, packaging and fuel costs. Unplanned investment in infrastructure and marketing activities could impact its profit and operating margin, the company said.

Bikaji Foods International has seven manufacturing facilities across Rajasthan, Assam, Karnataka and Bihar. The company exports products to 35 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific.

Here are some of the important details of the IPO:

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Bikaji Foods’ ₹881 crore IPO opens today