The coming week is going to be quiet for the primary market, in which only one IPO is going to open, while three companies are preparing to get listed after the offers closed last week. The mood of investors also seems cautious. The gray market premium (GMP) for all upcoming listings is currently at zero, indicating that listings are expected to have a flat start. Let us also tell you which company’s IPO is coming next week and which companies are going to debut in the stock market.
Only one IPO will open next week
This IPO will come in the primary market next week. The name of this IPO is Leapfrog Engineering Services, which is an SME IPO and the target is to raise approximately Rs 89 crore through it. This IPO will open for subscription on 23 April and will close on 27 April. Its listing is expected on BSE SME platform on April 30. Its price band has been fixed at Rs 21-23 per share.
It is a combination of fresh issue and offer-for-sale (OFS), in which Rs 79.6 crore will be raised through fresh equity issuance and about Rs 8.9 crore through OFS. Given the SME structure, the entry bar is quite high. Retail investors will have to bid for at least 12,000 shares, which means they will have to invest around Rs 2.76 lakh at the upper price band. Leapfrog Engineering operates in the engineering services and EPC sectors. It provides end-to-end solutions in sectors like oil and gas, pharmaceutical, food processing and metals.
Three IPO listings are finalized
Although new issues are limited, the market will see three listings in the coming week, including Mehul Telecom, Citius Transnet Investment Trust, and property share investment trust PropShare Celesia. These three IPOs opened and closed last week, and are now ready for listing. However, gray market trends for these three remain flat. GMP is currently at zero, which indicates that everyone’s listing expectations are quite low.
The lack of premium in the gray market suggests that investors have limited interest in speculation and are investing cautiously, especially in SME and InvIT offerings. Experts say that while on one hand the big equity markets have shown strength, on the other hand the enthusiasm of investors in the primary market has been selective. Instead of chasing profits at the time of listing, investors are paying more attention to good quality and right valuation.
possibility of selective participation
With only one IPO coming and flat GMP signals for all upcoming listings, the IPO pipeline looks quite slow in the near future. Despite this, activity is expected to increase gradually, especially if market conditions remain stable and larger ‘mainboard issues’ join the pipeline. For now, all attention is on how the upcoming listings perform, as this will determine the direction of investor interest in the primary market for the next few weeks.
