Patanjali Ayurved's OFS gets subscribed more than two times

Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved's sale of shares of Patanjali Foods got oversubscribed more than two times at the end of the two-day offer on Friday.

The non-retail portion was subscribed more than two times while the retail category received over three times subscription, according to latest data available on the BSE.

The two-day Offer For Sale (OFS) was launched by promoter entity Patanjali Ayurved to pare its total stake in Patanjali Foods by around 7% to meet the minimum public shareholding requirement.

The offer received bids for 76,34,567 shares from retail investors as against 25,33,964 shares on offer, translating into three times subscription on Friday.

On Thursday, 2.28 crore shares were offered for non-retail investors and cumulative bids for over 4.56 crore shares were received, reflecting two times subscription.

The offer was open for non-retail and retail investors on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

The shares of Patanjali Foods, which is into edible oil and other food products, were offloaded at a floor price of Rs 1,000 apiece. The base offer size is 2,53,39,640 shares.

Shares of the company gained 5% to close at Rs 1,224.95 apiece on the BSE on Friday.

At present, the public shareholding in Patanjali Foods stands at 19.18%, which needs to be increased to a minimum of 25% as per Sebi norms.

Earlier this week, Patanjali Foods said its promoter Patanjali Ayurved will sell up to 2.53 crore shares of the company in a bid to increase public float.

There was also an option for sale of additional shares through the OFS but Patanjali Ayurved decided not to exercise the option.

Earlier, Patanjali Foods had launched a Rs 4,300 crore Follow-on Public Offer (FPO) to increase the public shareholding.

Patanjali Group had acquired bankrupt Ruchi Soya Industries and later renamed the company as Patanjali Foods.