Ather Energy IPO sees tepid response on day two, gets subscribed 28%

Hero MotoCorp-backed Ather Energy’s initial public offering (IPO) received lacklustre bids on the second day of the subscription, with only 28% of the total issue subscribed.

The employee reserved category continued to lead the pack, being subscribed 3.18 times, while the retail investor portion was fully subscribed with 1.11X bids.

For context, Ather’s IPO was subscribed 16% on day one of its bidding.

The electric vehicle-maker’s IPO continued to see weak demand from non-institutional investors, with only 27% of their allocation being subscribed, while qualified institutional buyers continued to keep away from the bidding process on day two.

Typically, bids from QIBs come in later as they wait to gauge general market sentiment before bidding.

Tiger Global-backed Ather Energy’s IPO constitutes a fresh issue of Rs 2,626 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 1.1 crore shares.

The Bengaluru-based company has set the price band for its IPO between Rs 304 and Rs 321 per share, valuing Ather at Rs 11,956 crore at the upper end of the offering.

IPO subscription for anchor investors opened on April 25 and Ather raised Rs 1,340 crore from domestic and foreign investors, including Morgan Stanley Investment Funds, Custody Bank of Japan, and the State Bank of India.

Ather Energy had trimmed its IPO size to Rs 2,626 crore from its previous target to raise Rs 3,100 crore amidst turbulent market conditions. The startup will close its IPO subscription on Wednesday, April 30.

Ola Electric, which listed in August last year, saw its IPO fully subscribed on day two, while foodtech platform Swiggy’s public issue was subscribed 35% and FirstCry’s was subscribed 30%.