RailTel IPO opens for subscription; share allocation likely to be finalised by 23 February

RailTel Corporation of India’s Rs 819.24-crore initial public offering (IPO) opened for subscription on 16 February. The company received 35 percent subscription within 40 minutes of the bidding process and by 10.40 am, the issue had received bids for 2,15,16,635 shares, which was 35 percent of the total issue size of 6,11,95,923 shares. The state-owned Mini Ratna (Category-I) central public sector enterprise aims towards raising Rs 819.24 crore through public issue which will close on 18 February. The company will, however, not receive funds from IPO as all the money will go to the Government of India. RailTel gets 66 percent of its revenues from the telecom segment. The remaining portion is derived from railways and other projects. The share allocation in RailTel IPO is likely to be finalised on 23 February. Subsequently, the listing may take place on 26 February. ICICI Securities, IDBI Capital, SBI Capital Markets are merchant bankers to the issue. The government plans to raise around Rs 819 crores through the issue. According to a report, 50 percent of the issue is kept for qualified institutional buyers, while 35 percent has been marked for retail investors and 15 percent has been kept for non-institutional bidders. RailTel reported a stable financial performance over FY18-20. The company saw 7.5 percent CAGR rise in top-line to Rs 1,128 crore in FY20. Telecom services business which contributed around 67.7 percent increased by 4.3 percent CAGR. Business from projects increased by 13.8 percent CAGR during FY18-20. HDFC Securities in an IPO note said that RailTel serves as a key network for Indian Railways and that as of 31 January 2021, RailTel’s optical fiber network covers 59,098 route kilometres and covers 5,929 railway stations across towns and cities in India.