Few retail investors bid for NHPC shares

New Delhi: NHPC share sale managed to scraped through despite poor response from retail investors to government’s first disinvestment of the current financial year. The issue was saved by the participation of institutional investors, led by LIC, even there were no takers for 42% of the retail component of the issue.
In contrast, there was robust retail response to IPOs of diagnostics firm Thyrocare Technologies and microfinance company Ujjivan Financial Services.
The Rs 479-crore issue of Thyrocare attracted bids for 1.7 crore shares against the issue size of 75 lakh shares. The retail portion was also oversubscribed 3.5 times, NSE data showed. BCCL and/or its subsidiaries hold 0.56% of the equity capital of Thyrocare Technologies as on the date of filing of the DRHP.
The IPO of microfinance player Ujjivan Financial Services was subscribed 21% on the first day, with bids for 40% of the retail portion on offer. In recent months, healthcare companies are seeing strong investor interest, with companies such as Dr Lal PathLabs and Narayana Hrudayalaya tapping the IPO market.
But the response to public sector undertakings has remained muted and it has fallen on shoulders of LIC to rescue most of the government’s disinvestment programme.
In fact, investors have questioned the need for the life insurer to bail out almost every issue that the government has unveiled with some cautioning against using the state-run player to play such role.
NHPC’s sale of over 125 crore shares, or 11.4% government stake, was over-subscribed 1.65 times, according to stock exchange data. The unsubscribed retail portion is likely to be allocated to institutional investors.