CARE's IPO subscribed nearly 41 times

Mirroring strong investor interest, rating agency CARE's Rs 540-crore initial public offer (IPO) has got a total subscription worth over Rs 17,500 crore or nearly 41 times on the last day of the public issue on Tuesday.

The IPO attracted bids for over 25 crore shares against 71.99 lakh shares on offer, translating to 40.88 times subscription, as per data available with the stock exchanges till 1850 hrs.

The category reserved for Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) was subscribed over 33 times, while non-institutional investors portion received nearly 10 times subscription.

Shares reserved for retail investors got subscribed 2.48 times.

The company has fixed the price band at Rs 700-750 per share and proposes to raise Rs 504 crore at the lower end and Rs 540 crore at the top end from the issue.

The IPO opened on December 7.

"The issue is attractively priced. Given attractive valuations and robust business model, we expect strong returns in the next 12-15 months," Religare Research said in a report.

CARE (Credit Analysis and Research Ltd) is promoted by major banks and financial institutions and the three largest shareholders are IDBI Bank with 26 per cent, Canara Bank at 23 per cent and State Bank of India holds 9 per cent.

Kotak Securities, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Edelweiss Capital, ICICI Securities, IDBI Capital and SBI Caps are the book-running lead-managers to the issue.

CARE is the third rating agency in the country to go public after Crisil and Icra.