Antony Waste Closes 29% Higher Than IPO Price On Stock Market Debut

Shares of Antony Waste Handling Cell gained on market debut after investors piled into the initial public offering of the waste manager that collects garbage for some of the nation’s biggest municipal corporations.

The stock listed at Rs 430 apiece, a 36.5% premium over the issue price of Rs 315, according to data available on the BSE. Later, the stock fell and closed 29.3% higher at 407.25 apiece.

Antony Waste—which provides services to civic bodies of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Gurugram, among others—is the first company to be listed in 2021. The previous year saw debutants listing at 13-115% premium, including Mrs Bectors Food Specialities Ltd., Gland Pharma Ltd., Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd., CAMS Ltd., Route Mobile Ltd., Happiest Minds Technologies Ltd. and Chemcon Specialty Chemicals Ltd. Only Angel Broking Ltd., UTI Asset Management Co. and Equitas Small Finance Bank Ltd. listed at a 6-11% discount to their issue prices.

Antony Waste’s three-day maiden offer was subscribed 15.04 times on the final day of issue on Dec. 23. The portion reserved for the qualified institutional buyers subscribed 9.67 times, while non-institutional and retail individual investors bid 18.69 times and 16.5 times, respectively, for the shares earmarked for them.

The waste manager planned to raise Rs 300 crore by selling up to 1.96 crore shares at Rs 313-315 apiece. The IPO comprised a fresh issue and an offer-for-sale by existing shareholders—Tonbridge (Mauritius), Leeds (Mauritius), Cambridge (Mauritius), and Guildford (Mauritius).

The company had allotted 28.5 lakh equity shares to 10 anchor investors and raised Rs 89.99 crore ahead of the IPO at an upper price band of Rs 315 apiece.

This was the second attempt for Antony Waste to list on the bourses. The company in March had withdrawn its IPO because of a tepid investor response as equities tumbled amid the coronavirus pandemic.