(Reuters) -Indian digital payments firm MobiKwik’s [ONEM.NS] 5.72 billion-rupee ($67.4 million) initial public offering (IPO) was fully subscribed within the first hour of sale on Wednesday, as investors bet on strong growth prospects in India’s booming online payments market.
Retail investors placed bids for nearly five times the shares reserved for them, while the portion for non-institutional investors was fully sold, exchange data showed.
Institutional buyers such as foreign institutions and mutual funds are yet to place bids.
The firm is taking bids from Dec. 11-13 in a price range of 265-279 rupees per share, targetting a valuation of 21.68 billion rupees. The stock is likely to start trading on Dec. 18.
The company, which counts non-bank lender Bajaj Finance, Peak XV and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as existing shareholders, is selling only new shares in the IPO.
India’s IPO market has boomed in 2024 despite a brief blip in stock markets in recent months, with nearly 300 companies raising over $15 billion so far this year, more than double the amount raised last year, data compiled by LSEG showed.
MobiKwik, founded over a decade ago, had filed for a 19-billion-rupee IPO in July 2021 but shelved those plans after the dismal market debut of larger rival Paytm late that year. It has since slashed its IPO size by around 70%.
MobiKwik on Tuesday sold shares worth 2.57 billion rupees to so-called anchor investors including Norway’s wealth fund Norges, HDFC Mutual Fund and Quant Mutual Fund.
($1 = 84.8540 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
