Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) accounted for around ₹2,883 crore, or 43% of the anchor book, while domestic investors received about ₹3,588 crore, or 57%, sources said.
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) emerged as the top investor, with an allocation of ₹450 crore. Among the key foreign investors in the anchor book are Singapore’s GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Norway’s Norges Bank, sources said.
The strong demand comes even as NSE’s anchor book was cut to around ₹6,250 crore from the earlier planned ₹9,000 crore.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on September 15, NSE Managing Director and CEO Ashish Chauhan said demand for the exchange’s IPO had been “unexpectedly large”, despite the smaller anchor book size. He said the number of investors seeking shares was significantly higher than the shares available for allocation.
“There is a large number of investors seeking a large number of shares,” Chauhan said, adding that NSE had limited shares to distribute despite strong interest.
Chauhan said the allocation would follow a fixed framework, with separate buckets for domestic mutual funds, non-mutual fund investors and FPIs, with each category receiving shares within its prescribed limits.
The NSE IPO is entirely an offer for sale (OFS) by existing shareholders and the exchange will not receive any proceeds from the issue. Chauhan said NSE does not need to raise fresh capital, pointing to its strong profitability and dividend payout of around ₹8,000 crore last year.
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The listing is aimed at meeting the minimum public shareholding requirement and will also provide liquidity to existing shareholders by creating a public market for NSE shares. Chauhan said a listed entity would also bring a wider shareholder base and greater transparency.
The NSE IPO is priced in the ₹1,700–₹1,785 range per share. The issue opens for public subscription on September 17 and closes on September 21. The lot size has been fixed at eight shares, taking the minimum retail investment at the upper price band to ₹14,280.
