Delhivery IPO subscribed 1.63 times; QIBs bail out offer

The initial public offering (IPO) of Gurugram-based Delhivery was subscribed 1.63 times at the end of the book building process today. The IPO for Rs 5,235 crore ($680 million) had opened on May 11, 2022 to a lukewarm response.

Bids were made for 101 million shares as against 62.5 million shares on offer, according to data from the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The maximum subscription (2.66 times) came in from qualified institutional buyers: as against an offer of 33.8 million shares, bids were made for 90 million shares.

The retail portion was under-subscribed: out of 11 million shares on offer, bids were received only for 6 million shares.

Employees, too, did not bid for the shares. While 457,665 shares were reserved for them, bids were made only for 27 percent (123,870 shares).

The maximum bids came in at the lower end of the price band of Rs 462-487 per share.

Delhivery, before the IPO, had allotted 48.18 million shares at Rs 487/share to anchor investors to raise Rs 2,346 crore.

Many brokerages had asked investors to "avoid" the issue. Sushil Finance, for example, had put out a put out a report: "Investors can avoid the issue as of now and can invest once the company starts showing positive numbers."

Loss of Rs 891 crore
Delhivery has reported a loss of Rs 891 crore for the nine months ended December 31, 2021 on total income of Rs 4,911 crore.

Express shipments for the nine months ended December 31, 2021 nearly tripled to 406.51 million shipments compared to 207.27 million shipments in the same period in 2020.

Delhivery reached 17,488 pin codes during the period under review with a manpower of 86,184 people. Area under management was 14.27 million square feet with over 23,000 active customers.