NEW DELHI: The newly listed Ather Energy stock had a lukewarm debut on the Indian stock market on Tuesday, listing at a modest 2% premium over its issue price of ₹321. On the NSE, the stock opened at ₹328, a 2.18% premium, while on the BSE, it debuted at ₹326.05, up 1.57%. However, the stock quickly reversed its early gains, falling nearly 5% to about ₹313 on the NSE. At this level, the electric two-wheeler manufacturer’s market capitalization stood at ₹11,608 crore.
The IPO- the first mainboard public offering of FY 2025-26 - was open for subscription from April 28 to April 30 but saw only modest investor demand.
The issue was subscribed 1.43 times on the closing day of bidding on Wednesday. The ₹2,981-crore initial share sale received bids for 7,65,33,972 shares against 5,33,63,160 shares on offer, according to data available with the NSE.
Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) part fetched 1.78 times subscription while the category for Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) got subscribed 1.70 times amid a volatile market condition. The portion for non-institutional investors received 66% subscription.
The tepid response to the IPO came after a few brokerages advised investors to avoid the offering, citing concerns over the company’s steep losses and expensive valuations. AEL’s revenue grew at a CAGR of 107.1% between FY22 and FY24, reaching ₹1,753.8 crore. However, the company losses also surged significantly to ₹1,059.7 crore in FY24.
As per the IPO filing papers, Ather Energy plans to use the funds raised from the IPO's fresh issue for various purposes like capex for the establishment of an electric two-wheeler factory in Maharashtra, repayment of certain corporate borrowings availed by the company, investment in R&D and for marketing initiatives or other general corporate purposes.