The ₹7,278-crore initial public offering (IPO) of Lenskart Solutions was subscribed 28.26 times on the final day of bidding on Tuesday, as per BSE data as of 7 PM. Investors showed a strong appetite for the IPO despite the issue being criticised for its expensive valuations.
Overall, investors placed bids for 281.88 crore shares in the issue, compared with the 9.98 crore shares on offer by the company.
“Investment from marquee names like Radhakishan Damani before the IPO and several top mutual funds appears to have boosted sentiment around the Lenskart IPO,” said Apurva Sheth, head of Research at Samco Securities. “The strong subscription numbers point to clear investor enthusiasm for what seems like a pricey issue.”
The qualified institutional buyers’ (QIBs) portion of the eyewear retailer’s IPO was subscribed 40.35 times, while the non-institutional investors’ (NIIs) portion and the retail investors’ portion were subscribed 18.23 times and 7.54 times, respectively. The employee-reserved portion saw a subscription of 4.96 times.
“Non-institutional investors, who typically base their bids on valuations and business outlook, showed relatively lower participation compared to some of the recent large IPOs because of the view that the IPO is on the expensive side,” said Geetanjali Kedia, IPO expert at SPTulsian Investment Advisers.
Lenskart had raised ₹3,268 crore from anchor investors on Thursday.
The IPO, which opened for public subscription on Friday, was priced in the range of ₹382-402 per share. The offer included a fresh issue of ₹2,150 crore and anOFS of ₹5,128.02 crore.
“While the numbers look stellar on paper, such heavy oversubscription often reflects short-term market excitement rather than deep conviction in the company’s fundamentals,” said Gaurav Garg, research analyst at Lemonn Markets Desk. Sheth also said with grey market premiums holding firm at 15-20%, hopes of listing gains have drawn in more retail investors. The unofficial grey market premium for the issue was at ₹58 or 14.4% on Tuesday evening, down marginally from ₹70 on Monday.
