Adia moves early in ICICI Prudential AMC’s IPO run-up; Meesho makes strong debut

Adia picks up stake in ICICI Prudential: The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) purchased an undisclosed amount of shares in ICICI Prudential Asset Management in pre-IPO placement for INR 49 bn (USD 544.6 mn) as Prudential offloaded a 4.5% stake, Reuters reports.The AUM’s IPO will open today for anchor bids and the stock is expected to list on 19 December.

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Marquee investors: Adia joined the family offices of b’naires Azim Premji and the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, along with domestic insurers including SBI Life, HDFC Life, and Go Digit, according to the newswire. ICICI Bank, which holds a 51% stake in the AUM, also purchased INR 21.40 bn (USD 237.8 mn) worth of stock. The IPO will comprise Prudential’s sale of a further 10%, with no new issuance.

Meesho’s blockbuster debut-

E-commerce firm Meesho surged 58% upon its listing debut, with its stock closing at INR 175 versus an issue price of INR 111, taking the company’s valuation to USD 8.78 bn (INR 789.3 bn), according to an exchange filing.

Gulf money in the book: Among the marque investors, Adia snapped up 900.9k shares amounting to INR 100 mn (USD 1.1 mn), according to the filing. While a modest ticket, Adia’s presence is a reminder of Gulf capital’s steady appetite for India’s consumer-internet IPOs and mass-market platforms that can scale across smaller cities.

Jostling investors: Several heavyweight funds walked away after Meesho allocated roughly a quarter of its anchor book to SBI Funds Management, triggering pushback over concentration, Bloomberg reports. Even so, the company raised USD 271.5 mn from 125 anchor bidders, including Fidelity International, BlackRock, Baillie Gifford, WCM, and Dragoneer.

Backed by SoftBank and Peak XV Ventures, Meesho’s debut performance follows strong tech listings from Groww and PhysicsWallah, in a year that has already seen more than 300 IPOs raise USD 19.26 bn, according to Reuters.

Coming up in the IPO pipeline-

Mumbai-based Vartis Platforms — the operator of India’s key peer-to-peer (P2P) lending marketplace LenDenClub — is preparing for an IPO within 18-36 months, Reuters reports, citing CEO Bhavin Patel. The company has begun internal restructuring and aims to exceed annual net income of INR 1 bn (USD 11.1 mn) before filing.