By Kashish Tandon
(Reuters) -Indian drugmaker Anthem Biosciences’ [ANTH.NS] $395 million IPO was fully subscribed on the second day of bidding on Tuesday, as investors bet on its growth prospects as global big pharma turns to India to limit its reliance on supplies from China.
The IPO received bids for 1.6 times the shares on offer as of 12:09 a.m. IST, exchange data showed, with demand primarily led by non-institutional investors, who lapped up 4.3 times the shares reserved for them.
The three-day share sale ends on Wednesday. Anthem shares are likely to start trading on July 21.
Global drugmakers have been seeking to limit their dependence on Chinese contractors, who produce drugs used in clinical trials and early-stage manufacturing.
Anthem, which has two manufacturing facilities in Bengaluru in south India, offers early-stage drug discovery and drug efficacy testing. It also makes active pharmaceutical ingredients, the main components of a drug, as well as dietary supplements and probiotics.
The firm’s expansion is “on a good pace”, is well suited to handle new orders, with a strong drug pipeline, which boosted investors’ sentiment, said Arun Kejriwal, founder of Kejriwal Research and Investment Services.
“Moreover, the China factor is ‘icing on the cake’ as the company is in a beneficial spot when global pharma firms are looking to move away from China,” Kejriwal said.
Indian firms are expected to raise $2.4 billion through IPOs in July, raising hopes of a sustained revival in primary offerings after global trade and geopolitical tensions hit the market earlier in the year.
The recovery in IPO market follows a surge in the secondary market over the last four months, with benchmark indexes inching closer to their record highs.
In the Anthem IPO, the company did not sell any new shares. Existing investors, including private equity firm True North and drugmaker DavosPharma, offloaded some stake in the 540 rupees to 570 rupees price range.
($1 = 85.8640 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
