Retail blues for 3 maiden floats

The three initial public offerings (IPOs) "� from Nissan Copper, Ess Dee Aluminium and XL Telecom "� that hit the markets this week are having a tough time as their retail portion is yet to attract serious bids.

The IPO by XL Telecom, which closed today, was subscribed 6.83 times, but the retail portion received applications 0.328 times, according to the data available with the National Stock Exchange. The company is issuing 39.57 lakh shares at a price band of Rs 125-150 a share.

The other two issues, which are closing tomorrow, are looking to scrape through. Nissan Copper received bids 0.92 times with the retail portion receiving just 0.059 times. The company is issuing 75.76 lakh shares at a price band of Rs 33-39 a share.

Ess Dee Aluminium is faring much better than Nissan Copper. The company's maiden float for 69.60 lakh shares at a price band of Rs 200-225 a share was subscribed 4.81 times, as per the latest figures.

The retail portion, however, received applications just 0.073 times.

"FIIs do not take interest in small IPOs because of the liquidity factor," a research analyst said.

"Retail investors analyse the issues before applying for them. Also, all the big IPOs have already closed, and the money is blocked with them. And since a large IPO is likely to hit the markets by mid-December, people are reserving their money for that," said Haresh Hinduja, vice-president - IPOs, Intime Spectrum Registry.