Chennai unicorn Five Star Business Finance makes lacklustre market debut
The offer-for-sale issue by the fintech company's promoters and existing shareholders was trimmed down from Rs 2,752 crore to Rs 1,960 crore.
Shares of Chennai-based NBFC fell 1% in their trading debut on the NSE, and 5% on the BSE on Monday.
On the NSE, Five Star Business Finance's stock listed at Rs 468.8, while on the BSE it listed at Rs 449.9. The issue was finally priced at Rs 474 apiece, the higher end of the Rs 450 to Rs 474 pricing range.
The business loans company turned unicorn in 2021 after raising $234 million from investors such as KKR, Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and TVS Capital, and a secondary sale by Morgan Stanley.
Five Star Business Finance's IPO issue was entirely an offer-for-sale (OFS) which is typically when promoters of a company sell their shares to the general public. The issue size was Rs 1,960 crore, which the company reduced from Rs 2,752 crore.
Matrix Partners, SCI Investments, and Norwest, to name a few, primarily participated in the OFS.
The issue subscription saw muted, weak demand too when it opened on November 9, with only 81% of the total issue seeing buyers.
According to the company's draft red herring prospectus, it recorded a profit of Rs 453.5 crore for the financial year ended March 2022, compared with Rs 359 crore in the previous year.
It had Rs 5,100 crores of assets under management (AUM) in the same period, up from Rs 4,400 crore in March 2021.