MUMBAI: The Rs 4000-crore primary share sale of market infrastructure institution National Securities Depository (NSDL) through the offer-for-sale (OFS) route is set to open for public subscription next week—most probably on July 30.
The issue is a pure OFS worth around Rs 4,000 crore at current currency levels, a market source told TNIE. The issue should hit the market most likely on July 31 depending on market conditions.
NSDL is the market leader as well as the oldest player in this space. It will become the second listed depository services company after CDSL (Central Depository Services) which went public in June 2017 with a Rs 524-crore issue which was also purely an OFS overbought 170 times.
At the current price level, NSDL, set up in November 1996, is targeting an IPO valuation of around Rs 16,000 crore.
As of December 2024, NSDL is the largest depository in terms of number of issuers, number of active instruments, market share in demat value of settlement volume and value of assets held under custody.
According to a May addendum added to the DRHP, the IPO consists of an offer for sale up to 50,145,001 equity shares, with selling shareholders including IDBI Bank, NSE, Union Bank of India, SBI and administrator of the specified undertaking of the Unit Trust of India.
The LIC-run IDBI Bank and the NSE own 26.01% and 24% stakes respectively in NSDL. Sebi norms prohibit any single entity from owning more than 15% stake in any market infrastructure institution. The IPO gives both entities a window to dilute their stake.
NSDL does not have any identifiable promoter and is led by chief executive Vijay Chandok who is an ex-ICICI group veteran.
For the nine months to December 2024, NSDL had over 38.77 million demat accounts, with 289 depository participants and 64,535 issuers registered with it. It also had 53,169 unlisted companies registered with it compared to CDSL which had 21,295 unlisted companies.
ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, HSBC, IDBI Capital, Motilal Oswal and SBI Caps are the book running lead managers of the issue.