WeWork India IPO crawls to 4% subscription on day one
Data from the cumulative demand schedule shows that on day 1, only about 1.1 million shares had been bid for out of the 25.5 million on offer, translating into just 4% subscription.
WeWork India’s initial public offering opened with a whimper, as bids trickled in at a fraction of the available shares.
Data from the cumulative demand schedule shows that, on October 3, only about 1.1 million shares had been bid for out of the 25.5 million on offer, translating into just 4% subscription.
Qualified institutional buyers submitted 277,794 bids against 13.9 million reserved shares, or a subscription of 2%. Mutual funds were the only players present, while foreign institutions, banks and insurers didn't participate.
High-net-worth investors weren’t enthusiastic either. Against 6.9 million shares reserved, they placed just 111,412 bids (2% subscription). Within that, larger ticket investors (above Rs 10 lakh) barely moved the needle, taking up 19,320 shares, while mid-tier investors (Rs 2–10 lakh) contributed 92,092 bids
Retail individual investors (RIIs) put in the most visible demand, but still left the category undersubscribed. Out of 4.6 million shares reserved for them, they bid for 669,553 shares, or 14% subscription.
The lone bright spot came from WeWork India’s own employees. Their reserved portion of 59,523 shares saw 90% subscription, with 53,498 bids placed.
The Bengaluru-based premium flexible workspace operator raised Rs 1,348.26 crore from anchor investors ahead of its initial public offering (IPO). The company has allotted 2.08 crore shares at Rs 648 per share to 67 investors.
The anchor book saw strong participation from domestic institutions, including ICICI Prudential, HDFC MF, Motilal Oswal, Aditya Birla, Axis, and Canara-Robeco mutual funds, along with insurers such as Canara HSBC Life, SBI General, Kotak Mahindra Life, and Bajaj Allianz Life. Global investors included Goldman Sachs Fund, Allianz Global Investors, and Al Mehwar Commercial Investments.
The Rs 3,000-crore IPO opened on October 3 and will close on October 7, with a price band of Rs 615–648 per share.
The issue, entirely an offer for sale of 4.63 crore shares, will see promoter Embassy Buildcon divest 3.54 crore shares and investor 1 Ariel Way Tenant Ltd (part of WeWork Global) sell 1.09 crore shares.
Edited by Kanishk Singh