Anchor lock-in expiry to unlock Rs 5,300 crore worth shares this week

Shares worth over Rs 5,300 crore from recently listed companies, Vishal Mega Mart and One Mobikwik Systems, will hit the market this week as anchor investors reach the end of their lock-in periods, opening the door for potential sell-offs.

Counters of One Mobikwik Systems, Vishal Mega Mart and Sai Life Sciences will be among the five major companies in the main board space to see their final lock-in period expire this week. Meanwhile, shares of Quality Power Electrical Equipments, Hexaware Technologies and Ajax Engineering will see their initial lock-in end during the week. Put together, for the week of March 17 to March 21, eight companies could see their first and final lock-in end for a total value of Rs 5,342.5 crore as per the closing price on Friday, according to data compiled by Business Standard.

Anchor investors face a lock-in period of 30 days for 50 per cent of their allotted shares before the initial public offering, while the remaining 50% is locked in for 90 days. This restriction prevents institutions from selling their shares immediately after listing, helping to stabilise the stock price and promote long-term confidence in the market.

Vishal Mega Mart could see a potential selloff by anchor investors worth Rs 1,523 crore, the highest among the companies to see lock-ins end this week. The company had allotted about 307 million shares at Rs 78 apiece to 89 anchor investors, ahead of its IPO in December 2024. The public offering closed with an oversubscription of 27.28 times, driven by strong demand from Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs), who subscribed 80.75 times the quota reserved for them, according to BSE data.

Meanwhile, Hexaware Technologies could see a potential selloff of about Rs 1,392 crore as part of their first lock-in ends on March 19. The company had allotted 36 million shares at Rs 708 apiece to 96 anchor investors, ahead of its IPO in February 2025. The issue saw subdued demand from investors, with the IPO being subscribed 2.66 times by the final day of subscription. The highest demand came from Qualified Institutional Buyers, whose bids were oversubscribed 9.09 times the reserved quota.

Further, International Gemmological Institute and Inventurus Knowledge Solutions could see about Rs 701 crore and Rs 693 crore worth of share selloffs by anchor investors during the week.

After a year of multiple records, activity in India’s primary market tapered off at the beginning of the first two months as sentiment in the secondary market turned bearish. The number of mainboard debuts saw a decline, along with the number of companies that filed their draft papers.

India's initial public offering pipeline, valued at least over Rs 1.1 trillion, may fall short of expectations, with many companies likely to delay or let their approvals lapse due to weak secondary market sentiment. However, the issues of Tata Capital, Ather Energy, ICICI Prudential Asset Management, LG Electronics India and HDB Financial Services will be keenly watched out for going ahead.