Nazara IPO subscription: Mobile gaming company Nazara IPO subscribed nearly 4 times | India Business News – Times of India

MUMBAI: The initial public offer (IPO) for Nazara Technologies, India’s first gaming company to list, was fully subscribed within an hour of opening on Wednesday. Driven by strong retail demand, the offer was subscribed four times by the end of the day.
Nazara, backed by billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, is raising Rs 583 crore through the IPO at a price of Rs 1,100-1,001 per share. According to bidding details on the BSE, the retail portion was subscribed nearly 17 times, while the non-institutional investor, also called the high net worth investor (HNI) part was subscribed about three times.
The employee part was subscribed 2.3 times and the institutional part just about 40% or 0.4 time. As is the norm in most IPOs, most of the bids are expected to come on Friday, the last day of the offer.

Its promoters and some of the existing shareholders are selling nearly 53 lakh shares in this public offer, the offer document showed. WestBridge Ventures, one of the early backers of the company, had exited its investments in January by selling its stake worth over Rs 500 crore to Plutus Wealth Management and its associates.
Earlier in 2017, WestBridge had sold stakes to an arm of domestic financial services group IIFL and Jhunjhunwala, who will not be diluting his minority stake in Nazara through the IPO.
This is the second attempt by the company to go public. In 2018, it had received Sebi’s nod to launch the IPO but it had not proceeded. The company is known for its games on World Cricket Championship, Chhota Bheem and Motu Patlu series.
In FY20, Nazara had posted a net loss of Rs 26 crore from a total income of Rs 262 crore. With a surge in gaming during the pandemic, the company said it has already recorded income of around Rs 207 crore in the first half of FY21. At 39%, gamified early learning segment makes up the majority revenue share for Nazara, followed by e-sports at 32%.
ICICI Securities, Nomura Financial Advisory, Jefferies India and IIFL Securities are managing the IPO.
On the same day two more IPOs — Laxmi Organic and Craftsman Automation — closed with strong subscriptions figures. While Laxmi Organic IPO was subscribed nearly 107 times, CraftsMan Automation was subscribed nearly four times. Two other IPOs — Kalyan Jewellers and Surodaya Small Finance Bank — will close this week.