ICICI Prudential Asset becomes fourth most subscribed India IPO with $33 billion in bids

ICICI Prudential Asset Management received bids worth 3 trillion rupees ($33 billion) for its IPO, making it the fourth most subscribed IPO in India.

The $1.2 billion share sale that closed on Tuesday saw the highest bids after IPOs by Reliance Power in 2007, LG Electronics India this year, and Bajaj Housing Finance in 2024.

The share sale by the country’s second-largest asset manager sets the stage for India to notch a record year of fundraising. Companies that have hit the market this year include financial firms such as Groww, HDB Financial Services and Tata Capital.

“The strong pedigree that ICICI Prudential AMC enjoys and the robust outlook for mutual fund industry in India makes this an attractive bet for investors,” said Kranthi Bathini, director – equity strategy at WealthMills Securities.

The firm is a joint venture between ICICI Bank, India’s second-largest private lender, and British insurer Prudential. The IPO was an offer for sale by Prudential. The firm managed more than 10 trillion rupees ($110 billion) of assets, with a 13.2% share of the market, as of September-end.

Institutional investors led the bids at the IPO with the portion set aside for them subscribed about 124 times.

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Ahead of the share sale, Prudential sold a 4.5% stake in the asset manager for about $545 million to marquee investors like Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and the family offices of Azim Premji and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

The shares set aside for non-institutional and retail investors were subscribed 22 times and 2.5 times, respectively. The portion set aside for ICICI Bank’s shareholders was subscribed 9.8 times.

The shares are expected to start trading on Friday.