Juniper Hotels IPO: Anchor Allocation at 45%

About the Juniper Hotels IPO

The stock of Juniper Hotels IPO has a face value of ₹10 per share and the price band for the book building IPO has been set in the range of ₹342 to ₹360 per share. The IPO of Juniper Hotels Ltd will entirely a fresh issue of shares with no offer for sale (OFS) component. The fresh issue tends to bring in fresh funds into the company, but is also EPS and equity dilutive. On the other hand, OFS is just a transfer of ownership, and hence the OFS is neither equity dilutive nor is it EPS dilutive. The fresh issue portion of the IPO of Juniper Hotels Ltd comprises the issue of 5,00,00,000 shares (500 lakh shares), which at the upper price band of ₹360 per share will translate into a fresh issue size of ₹1,800 crore.

Since there is no offer for sale (OFS) component, the fresh issue size will also double as the overall size of the IPO. Therefore, the total IPO of Juniper Hotels Ltd will comprise of a fresh issue of 5,00,00,000 shares (500 lakh shares) which at the upper end of the price band of ₹360 per share aggregates to total issue size of ₹1,800 crore. Juniper Hotels IPO will be listed on the NSE and the BSE on the IPO mainboard. The fresh funds will be used to repay / prepay some of the high-cost borrowings of the business availed for the recent acquisitions of CHPL and CHHPL. Promoters currently hold 100% in the company, which will get diluted post the IPO to 77.53%. The IPO will be lead managed by JM Financial, CLSA India and ICICI Securities, while KFIN Technologies Ltd will be the registrar to the IPO.

A brief on the anchor allocation of Juniper Hotels IPO

The anchor issue of Juniper Hotels IPO saw a relatively strong response on 20th February 2024 with 45% of the IPO size getting absorbed by the anchors. Out of 5,00,00,000 shares (500 lakh shares) on offer, the anchors picked up 2,25,00,000 shares (225 lakh shares) accounting for 45% of the total IPO size. The anchor placement reporting was made to the BSE late on Tuesday, 20th February 2024; one working day ahead of the IPO opening on Wednesday, 21st February 2024.

The entire anchor allocation was made at the upper price band of ₹360 per share. This includes the face value of ₹10 per share plus a share premium of ₹350 per share, taking the anchor allocation price to ₹360 per share. Let us focus on the anchor allotment portion ahead of the Juniper Hotels Ltd IPO, which saw the anchor bidding opening and also closing on 20th February 2024. Post the anchor allocation, here is how the overall allocation looked.

Here it must be noted that the 2,25,00,000 shares issued to the anchor investors on 20th February 2024, were actually reduced from the original QIB quota; and only the residual amount would be available to QIBs in the IPO. That change has been reflected in the table above, with the QIB IPO portion reduced to the extent of the anchor allocation. As a result, the QIB quota has reduced from 75% before the anchor allocation to 30% after the anchor allocation. The overall allocation to QIBs includes the anchor portion, so the anchor shares allotted has been deducted from the QIB quota for the purpose of the public issue.

Finer points of anchor allocation process

Before we go into the details of the actual anchor allotment, a quick word on the process of anchor placement. The anchor placement ahead of an IPO/FPO is different from a pre-IPO placement in that the anchor allocation has a lock-in period of just one month, although under the new rules, part of the anchor portion will be locked in for 3 months. It is just to give confidence to investors that the issue is backed by large established institutions. It is the presence of institutional investors like mutual funds and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) that gives confidence to the retail investors. Here are details of the anchor lock-in for the issue of Juniper Hotels Ltd.

However, the anchor investors cannot be allotted shares at a discount to the IPO price. This is explicitly stated in the SEBI revised regulations as under, “As per the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirement) Regulations, 2018, as amended, in case the Offer Price discovered through book building process is higher than the Anchor Investor Allocation Price, then the Anchor investors will be required to pay the difference by the pay-in as specified in the revised CAN.

An anchor investor in an IPO is normally a qualified institutional buyer (QIB) like a foreign portfolio investor or mutual fund or insurance company or a sovereign fund which invests before the IPO is made available to the public as per SEBI regulations. Anchor portion is part of the public issue, so the IPO portion to the public (QIB portion) is reduced to that extent. As initial investors, these anchors make the IPO process more attractive for investors, and instil confidence in them. Anchor investors also largely aid in price discovery of the IPO

Anchor allocation investors in Juniper Hotels IPO

On 20th February 2024, Juniper Hotels IPO completed the bidding for its anchor allocation. There was a strong and robust response as the anchor investors participated through the process of book building. A total of 2,25,00,000 shares were allotted to a total of 43 anchor investors. The allocation was done at the upper IPO price band of ₹360 per share (including premium of ₹350 per share) which resulted in an overall anchor allocation of ₹810 crore. The anchors have already absorbed 45% of the total issue size of ₹1,800 crore, which is indicative of fairly robust institutional demand.

Listed below are the 18 anchor investors who, have been allotted 2% or more of the anchor allocation done ahead of the IPO of Juniper Hotels Ltd. The entire anchor allocation of ₹810 crore was spread across a total of 43 major anchor investors, with only 18 anchor investors getting more than 2% each out of the anchor allocation quota. While there were 43 anchor investors in all, only the 18 anchor investors who got allocated 2% or more each of the anchor quota are listed in the table below. These 18 anchor investors accounted for 73.54% of the total anchor collection of  ₹810 crore. The detailed allocation is captured in the table below, indexed descending on size of anchor allocation.

Data Source: BSE Filings (Value Allocated in ₹ in Crore)

The above list only includes the set of 18 anchor investors who got allotted shares of 2% or above each of the anchor portion done ahead of the Juniper Hotels Ltd IPO. In fact, there were 43 anchor investor in all; with only the anchor investors getting more than 2% each of the anchor quota being mentioned in the list above. The detailed and comprehensive report on the anchor allocation with the mutual fund portion separated can be accessed by clicking on the link below.

https://www.bseindia.com/markets/MarketInfo/DownloadAttach.aspx?id=20240220-48&attachedId=2f89a526-d4d7-4c62-a9c2-2cd8ed9e484c

The detailed report is available in PDF format and can be downloaded by clicking on the link above. Alternatively, readers can also opt to cut this link and paste in their browser, in case the link is not directly clickable. The details of the anchor allocation can also be accessed in the Notices section of the BSE on its website www.bseindia.com.

Overall, the anchors absorbed 45% of the total issue size. The QIB portion in the IPO has already been reduced to the extent of the anchor placement done above. Only the balance amount will be available for QIB allocation as part of the regular IPO. The general norm is that, in anchor placements, smaller issues find it hard to get FPIs interested while larger issues do not interest mutual funds. Juniper Hotels Ltd saw a good deal of buying interest from all category of anchors viz. FPIs, participatory notes routed through ODIs, domestic mutual funds, AIFs, and insurance companies. Let us finally look at the sub-category of mutual fund participation in the anchor allocation ahead of the Juniper Hotels Ltd IPO.

The anchor response normally sets the tone for the retail participation in the IPO and the anchor response has been fairly steady this time around. Out of the 2,25,00,000 shares allocated to the anchors in the IPO, a total of 75,00,000 shares were allocated to domestic mutual funds registered with SEBI. This allocation was spread across 15 mutual fund schemes belonging to 7 asset management company (AMCs). The mutual fund allocation in the anchor portion amounted to 33.33% of the total anchor size.

Key dates for Juniper Hotels IPO and how to apply?

The issue opens for subscription on 21st February 2024 and closes for subscription on 23rd February 2024 (both days inclusive). The basis of allotment will be finalized on 26th February 2024 and the refunds will be initiated on 27th February 2024. In addition, the demat credits are expected to also happen on 27th February 2024 and the stock will list on 28th February 2024 on the NSE and the BSE. Juniper Hotels Ltd will test the appetite for such hospitality stocks in India. The credits to the demat account to the extent of shares allotted will happen by the close of 27th February 2024 under ISIN (INE696F01016).