(Reuters) - Investors flocked to India's MobiKwik's $67 million IPO with bids for about 120 times the shares on offer, betting on strong listing gains and the fintech company's prospects in a booming online payments market.
The initial public offering received bids for 1.4 billion shares, worth about $4.7 billion, compared to the 11.9 million shares on offer, exchange data showed at the end of the three-day sale on Friday. The issue was fully subscribed within an hour of opening on Wednesday.
MobiKwik's IPO, which only comprised new shares issue, was the heaviest subscribed since late September, when the domestic stock market started easing from its record highs.
Millions of Indians pay online for everything from groceries to flight tickets, aiding the business of financial technology firms, popularly known as fintechs, that ranges from offering loans to running payment gateway solutions.
Paytm, Walmart-backed PhonePe and Google Pay dominate India's online payments market. Consultancy firm PwC estimates the transaction value for the market to double to 593 trillion rupees in fiscal year 2028–29 from 265 trillion rupees in 2023–24.
Shares set aside for retail investors were booked 135 times, while the institutional buyers, including foreign institutions and mutual funds, placed bids for about 120 times their reserved shares.
Analysts said the MobiKwik stock was trading at around a 50% premium in the unregulated grey market, which is considered an indicator of listing day gains. The stock is likely to start trading on Dec. 18.
MobiKwik was targeting a $256 million valuation at the upper end of the 265-279 rupees price band.
Backed by India's Bajaj Finance and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the largest sovereign wealth fund in the UAE, the fintech firm had shelved its plans to go public in 2021 after Paytm's disappointing debut that year.
($1 = 84.7690 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
