Speciality chemicals maker Galaxy Surfactants Ltd made a strong trading debut on Thursday, with its shares extending gains after listing at a small premium to the issue price.
Shares of Galaxy began trading on the BSE Sensex at Rs 1,520 apiece, up 3% from the initial public offering price of Rs 1,480, stock-exchange data showed. The stock traded between Rs 1,732 and Rs 1,520, before closing at Rs 1,698.10, up 14.75% from its issue price. The company now commands a market value of Rs 6,020.57 crore.
The benchmark BSE Sensex closed 1% higher, reversing its seven-day losing streak. The 30-share gauge had declined more than 6% over the seven sessions since its record high close on 29 January.
Galaxy is the fourth company to list on the main board of stock exchanges in 2018. The other three companies, too, had gained on debut.
The positive start to Galaxy follows strong demand for its shares in its IPO, which was subscribed 20 times.
VCCircle was the first to report on Galaxy’s IPO plans after an early 2017 breakdown of the firm’s talks with international suitors, and the first to break news on appointment of merchant bankers for the public issue.
The company had filed its draft red herring prospectus in November 2017. It received approval for the IPO on 12 January 2018.
The promoters' stake after the IPO has declined to 70.91% from 76.98% earlier, VCCircle estimates show.
Galaxy’s peer Fine Organic Industries Pvt. Ltd, too, is preparing for an IPO and is expected to file its draft prospectus.
Galaxy, which was incorporated in May 1986, counts Unnathan Shekhar, Gopalkrishnan Ramakrishnan, Shashikant Shanbhag and Sudhir Dattaram Patil as its promoters.
The company makes surfactants and other speciality ingredients for personal care and home care industries. It counts Cavinkare Pvt. Ltd, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd and Dabur India Ltd as its key clients.
The firm owns and operates seven manufacturing facilities, of which two are outside India. Besides, it had recently set up a pilot plant at Tarapur, Maharashtra, to scale up production.
