Record year for public offers at Rs 19,324 crore

Seventy-three companies mopped up a record Rs 19,324 crore through initial public offers (IPOs) in 2006, surpassing the previous peak of Rs 13,121 crore mobilised by 24 companies in 2004.

The amount raised through IPOs in 2006 was almost double compared with 2005, when fifty-three companies collected Rs 9,990 crore via public issue. Refinery, construction, engineering and media & entertainment are among the major sectors that led the way into the primary market.

The Rs 7,961 crore raised by Cairn India (Rs 5,261 crore) and Reliance Petroleum (Rs 2,700 crore) has accounted for 41 per cent of the total amount raised during 2006. Two housing construction companies "� Parsvanath Developers (Rs 1,090 crore) and Sobha Developers (Rs 489 crore) "� garnered a total of Rs 1,579 crore from the primary market, while seven civil and turnkey construction players raised a total of Rs 1,468 crore. 
 

HOT NUMBERS
Major IPOs	Amt (Rs cr)
Cairn India	5260.79
Reliance Petroleum	2700.00
Parsvnath Developers	1089.77
Lanco Infratech	1067.34
GMR Infrastructure	788.50
Sun TV	602.79
Sobha Developers	569.17
Tech Mahindra	465.23
Mah & Mah Fin Serv	400.00
Guj State Petronet	372.60

These civil and turnkey construction companies include GMR Infrastructure (Rs 789 crore), Unity Infraprojects (Rs 232 crore), BL Kashyap (Rs 200 crore) and Gayatri Projects (Rs 86 crore).

Lanco Infratech (Rs 1,067 crore) and Atlanta (Rs 64.50 crore) from the engineering sector raised Rs 1,131 crore, while Sun TV (Rs 603 crore), Entertainment Network (Rs 214 crore), Inox Leisure (Rs 198 crore) and Prime Focus (Rs 115 crore) from the media and entertainment sector mobilised Rs 1,130 crore.

While five technology players mopped up Rs 711 crore, three non-banking finance companies raised Rs 490 crore and four steel companies garnered Rs 379 crore from the primary market. According to Prime Database, in terms of number of issues, 2006 comes right on top in the last six years.

However, funds mobilised in 2006 through public issues including IPOs and FPOs (follow-on offers) were only six per cent higher than the previous year. Despite an extremely bullish secondary market for most part of the year and a high return from the primary market, 2006 ended with a mobilisation of Rs 24,141 crore against Rs 22,754 crore in the previous year 2005.

The year 2006 was the second highest-ever in the history of the Indian capital market in terms of fund mobilisation. It would have been much bigger but for the lack of PSU divestments. In 2004, an impressive Rs 16,819 crore was accounted for by PSU divestments. This went down to nil, both in 2005 and 2006.

Interestingly, follow-on public offerings (FPOs) by listed companies did not dominate any more. Last year, there were 19 such issues raising Rs 12,764 crore or 56 per cent of the total amount.

In 2006, though 19 listed companies made FPOs, these raised a meagre Rs 4,817 crore or 20 per cent of the total amount raised.