Vodafone Idea FPO subscribed 3.3 times; retail segment lags

Debt-saddled telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd's Rs 18,000-crore follow-on offering (FPO) on Monday was subscribed more than 3.3 times, as institutional investors poured in money but the retail segment lagged.

On the last day of the offering, as many as 4,212.56 crore shares were sought against the issue size of 1,260 crore at 14.30 hourrs, according to information on stock exchanges.

The final numbers will be known when the issue closes on Monday evening.

Qualified institutional buyers sought 8.71 times of their 360 crore shares reserved for them, while non-institutional investors bid for 2.7 times of the 270 crore shares earmarked for them.

Response from retail investors, who have been offered the biggest chunk, lagged with just 56% of 630 crore shares being picked up.

Shares are being offered in a price band of Rs 10-11 apiece, lower than the trading price of Rs 12.44 on the BSE on Monday afternoon.

Vodafone Idea sold shares worth Rs 5,400 crore to institutional investors in the first phase last week.

Investment firms GQG and Fidelity picked up most of the shares during the anchor book allocation.

The FPO is the largest ever. Prior to this, the largest FPO in the Indian market was a Rs 15,000-crore share sale by YES Bank in 2020.