Unlisted shares of some of the IPO-bound companies have seen prices spike over the last one to six months, partly in sympathy with the rally in the equity markets and partly as investors find value and hope of gains in such stocks.
Shares of companies such as food aggregator Swiggy, Advent backed-Manjushree Technopack, Carlyle-backed Hexaware Technologies, Mobikwik, NSE, Waaree Energies are seeing brisk trade, pushing up their prices.
Many of the mainboard IPOs as well as SME IPOs have given good returns over the past several months, and this is fuelling interest in the unlisted shares of the companies that have filed draft prospectuses for their public listing, said Krishna Patwari, Founder and MD of Wealth Wisdom India. The company has its own platform where unlisted shares are traded.
Shares of Swiggy, which had languished for several months this year, suddenly perked up in late July and has risen over 35 per cent since then and is currently at ₹480 levels. The food platform has reportedly increased its fresh share component size in the IPO to ₹5,000 crore from ₹3,750 crore earlier.
Manjushree Technopack’s unlisted shares started climbing from August 1 onward, when it was known that its listing was imminent. Then from August 20, when it filed its papers, there has been a steep climb of 34 per cent and currently trading at around ₹950. In June, its unlisted shares were being traded at around ₹600.
Shares of India’s largest solar panel maker Waaree Energies, which filed for an IPO last December and is still awaiting approval, fell from close to ₹2,200 in early June to ₹1,900 in the first week of September and over the last fortnight or so has spiked to around ₹2,300.
Patwari said that companies like Waaree were finding favour due to their strong financials and good performance.
The demand-supply mismatch, overflow of liquidity, and encouraging KPIs were some of the factors responsible for the investor interest in the unlisted shares, said Kranthi Bathini, Director, Equity Strategy at Wealthmills Securities.
He added that the exuberance in the main markets were spilling over into the unlisted segment as well.
Unlisted shares of Hexaware Technologies have doubled since April, while those of Mobikwik have again started climbing after having fallen and are almost back to their previous highs.