Wed Oct 30 05:01:52 UTC 2024: ## Afcons Infrastructure IPO Receives Lukewarm Response from Investors

**Mumbai, India:** The initial public offering (IPO) of Afcons Infrastructure, a leading infrastructure, engineering, and construction company under the Shapoorji Pallonji group, is closing today with a disappointing reception from investors. Despite attracting significant anchor investment, the IPO has received only lukewarm interest from the public.

As of the end of Day 2, the ₹5,430-crore IPO, which includes a fresh issue of up to ₹1,250 crore and an offer for sale of up to ₹4,180 crore by the promoter, is undersubscribed at just 0.36 times. The price band has been set at ₹440 – ₹463 a share.

The IPO received bids for only 3.15 crore shares out of the 8.66 crore shares on offer (net off anchor portion). This underwhelming response is reflected across all investor categories. While the portion reserved for retail investors was subscribed 0.36 times, HNIs at 0.72 times and QIBs at a meagre 0.08 times. The only bright spot was the portion reserved for employees, which was fully subscribed at 1.01 times.

Despite the lukewarm public response, Afcons Infrastructure successfully raised ₹1,621 crore from anchor investors prior to the IPO. The company allocated 35,021,597 equity shares at ₹463 per share to anchor investors, including prominent names like GIC, HDFC MF, ICICI Pru AMC, BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, and Goldman Sachs.

The proceeds from the fresh issuance will be utilized for capital expenditure towards construction equipment, funding long-term working capital requirements, prepayment or scheduled repayment of outstanding borrowings, and general corporate purposes.

Afcons operates across five key infrastructure business verticals: Marine and Industrial, Surface Transport, Urban Infrastructure, Hydro and Underground, and Oil and Gas.

The IPO is being managed by ICICI Securities Limited, DAM Capital Advisors Limited, Jefferies India Private Limited, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited, Nuvama Wealth Management Limited, and SBI Capital Markets Limited. Link Intime India Private Limited serves as the registrar of the issue.

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