The shares of Akme Fintrade listed on the exchanges on Wednesday with a premium of 6% on NSE. The stock debuted at Rs 127 on the NSE and at Rs 125.70 on BSE (up 4.75%) against an issue price of Rs 120.
Ahead of the listing, the company’s shares were trading with a GMP of Rs 18 in the unlisted market.
The IPO, which was entirely a fresh equity sale of 1.1 crore shares, was booked 53 times at close. Given that the domestic NBFC sector is very competitive, most analysts were cautious about the IPO.
The funds are being raised primarily to augment its capital base. As per RBI norms, the minimum capital adequacy for an NBFC should be 15%.
In the coming years, the company plans to grow its loan advances which would require Tier-1 capital to comply with the applicable capital adequacy regulations. Through the IPO, it would have adequate capital without any further need for fresh capital in the short to medium term.
“As we continue to grow our loan portfolio and asset base, we will require additional capital in order to continue to meet applicable capital adequacy ratios with respect to our business,” it said.
Akme Fintrade is a non-banking finance company (NBFC) engaged in rural and semi-urban centric lending solutions to look after the needs and aspirations of rural and semi-urban populace. Its portfolio includes vehicle finance and business finance products for small business owners.
The company has a long history of serving rural and semi-urban markets with high growth potential and have maintained a track record of financial performance and operational efficiency through consistently high rates of customer acquisition and retention and low cost expansion into underpenetrated areas.
In FY23, its revenue from operations grew to Rs 69.51 crore from Rs 67.44 crore in the preceding financial year. Meanwhile, profit after tax jumped multifold to Rs 15.80 crore from just Rs 4.12 crore a year earlier.
Gretex Corporate Services acted as the booking running lead manager for the public offer.
