Primary mart set to sizzle

The primary market will be flooded with initial public offerings (IPOs) over three months with as many as 30 offer documents awaiting Sebi approval. The IPOs are estimated to raise a phenomenal Rs 16,254 crore.

According to Prime Database, while Patni's mega Rs 375 crore issue is currently open, other issues aggregating to Rs 2,180 crore are about to filed with the regulatory body, bringing the total to Rs 18,831 crore.

According to Prithvi Haldea of Prime, never in the history has so much amount been targeted to be raised at a given point of time as now. Significantly, this is a serious pipeline, having reached Sebi for approval and not just at intentions stage.

In case all the issues hit the market during January to March, the quarter's figure will far outscore even the highest annual amount of Rs. 13,312 crore that was achieved in 1994-95.

In the 10 months of the current fiscal, there have been only 16 public issues raising a meagre Rs. 2,515 crore The key characteristics of the impending boom are one or combination of well-established companies, divestment's either by the government or venture capitalists and follow-on offerings. There are hardly any issues for new projects.

As per Prime, the pipeline is 600-plus companies strong to raise nearly Rs 60, 000 crore.

Lined up for later part of the year are several eagerly awaited mega issues including from PSUs such as BPCL, Haldia Petrochemicals, Mahanagar Gas, Power Finance and Power Grid, several bank issues and a host of private sector issues.