Fundraising via equity, debt hit all-time high in 2024: Prime Database

Fundraising by Indian corporates through equity and debt reached all-time high in the calendar year 2024, according to primedatabase.com.

 

The overall public equity fundraising stood at Rs 3.7 trillion in 2024, a rise of 159 per cent from Rs 1.4 trillion in 2023. If Rights Issues of Rs 25,973 crore were to be added, the overall equity fundraising would touch nearly Rs 4 trillion in 2024.

 

Fundraising through debt also reached an all-time high of Rs 11.05 trillion, of which Rs 10.9 trillion was through a private placement of debt and Rs 11,625 crore through public bonds, including infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs).

 

 

Ninety-one firms raised Rs 1.6 trillion through main board IPOs in 2024, more than three times Rs 49 436 crores through 57 IPOs in 2023.

 

The largest IPO in 2024 was from Hyundai Motor (Rs 27,859 crore), followed by Swiggy (Rs 11,327 crore) and NTPC Green Energy (Rs 4,275 crore) and the smallest IPO was from Vibhor Steel Tubes, raising Rs 72 crore. The average deal size doubled to Rs 1,756 crore, up from Rs 867 crore last year.

 

According to Pranav Haldea, managing director of Prime Database, new-age technology companies made a comeback after two quiet years with eight IPOs (Awfis, Blackbuck, Digit Insurance, Firstcry, Ixigo, Mobikwik, Swiggy and Unicommerce) raising Rs 21,438 crore.

 

Sixty-six out of the 91 IPOs received a response of more than 10 times, of which 35 IPOs more than 50 times, while 10 IPOs were oversubscribed by more than three times. The balance of 15 IPOs were oversubscribed between 1 to 3 times.

 

The average number of retail applications rose to 1.887 million in 2024, in comparison to 1.321 million last year. The highest number of retail applications were received by Waaree Energies (7.013 million) followed by Bajaj Housing Finance (5.866 million) and KRN Heat Exchanger & Refrigeration (5.523 million).

 

The average listing gain increased to 30.25 per cent, against 28.68 per cent in 2023. Sixty-one out of the 91 IPOs gave a return of over 10 per cent. Vibhor Steel Tubes rose 193 per cent on listing day, followed by BLS E-Services (175 per cent) and Mamata Machinery (159 per cent). Sixty-five of the 91 IPOs in 2024 are trading above the issue price.

 

Offer for sale by private equity/venture capital (PE/VC) investors stood at Rs 16,959 crore and accounted for 11 per cent of the total IPO amount. Offers for sale by private promoters at Rs 67,008 crore accounted for another 42 per cent. The amount of fresh capital raised in IPOs in 2024 was Rs 64,499 crore or 40 per cent of the total amount. A third of the amount raised through fresh capital was for investments in subsidiaries or, joint ventures or associate companies followed by the retirement of debt (19 per cent), capital enhancement or working Capital (16 per cent), general corporate purpose (15 per cent) and expansion of new projects and plant and machinery at 9 per cent.

 

Prime Database said the current IPO pipeline is promising, with 28 companies proposing to raise Rs 46,000 crore presently holding Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) approval and waiting to hit the market, while another 80 companies looking to raise about Rs 1.3 trillion are awaiting regulator’s approval.