Gaja Capital raises ₹165 crore from anchor investors; ₹550-crore IPO opens today

Gaja Alternative Asset Management, which operates under the Gaja Capital brand, has raised ₹165 crore from anchor investors at the upper price band of ₹160 per share, ahead of the opening of its ₹550-crore initial public offering (IPO) today.

Mutual funds accounted for 65.15% of the anchor book, followed by life insurance companies at 16.66%. Together, these long-term domestic institutional investors accounted for around 82% of the anchor allocation, according to the exchange filing.

The filing noted that Nippon India Mutual Fund and Invesco Mutual Fund led the anchor book with an investment of ₹30 crore each. HDFC Life and SBI Life were also among the key participants.

Among others, seasoned investors Akash Bhansali, through Winro Commercial (India), Mukul Agarwal, through Sanshi Fund I, and Ashish Kacholia, through Bengal Finance, also participated in the anchor book. Bhansali had participated in Gaja Capital's pre-IPO round last year.

₹550-crore IPO opens today

The three-day Gaja Capital IPO opens today and will close on August 21. The shares are proposed to be listed on both the BSE and NSE on August 26.

The Mumbai-based private equity firm has trimmed the issue size from the ₹656.2-crore IPO proposed earlier, comprising a fresh issue of ₹549.2 crore and an OFS of ₹107 crore. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of 2.81 crore shares aggregating to ₹450 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 0.63 crore shares worth ₹100 crore.

The price band has been fixed at ₹152-160 per share, with a lot size of 93 shares. At the upper end of the price band, retail investors will need to invest a minimum of ₹14,880.

As per the IPO document, up to 50% of the net offer will be reserved for qualified institutional buyers, 35% for retail investors and 15% for non-institutional investors.

Of the ₹450-crore fresh issue, Gaja Capital plans to deploy ₹387 crore towards sponsor commitments to certain existing and proposed funds and repayment of a bridge loan. This includes commitments to Gaja Capital India Fund 2020 LLP, Gaja Capital India Fund 2020, the proposed Fund V and the Secondaries Fund.

Another ₹24.91 crore will be used for the partial or full repayment of outstanding borrowings, with the balance earmarked for general corporate purposes.

Gaja Alternative Asset Management, incorporated in 2004, is an alternative asset management company operating under the Gaja Capital brand. It acts as an investment manager to India-focused Category I and Category II alternative investment funds (AIFs) and provides advisory services to offshore funds investing in Indian companies.