Ather Energy IPO: Retail Portion Subscribed 63% On Day 1

The initial public offering (IPO) of electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy saw strong demand from retail investors, who subscribed to 63% of the reserved shares for them on the first day of the bidding process.

As per BSE data, retail individual investors (RIIs) bid for 61.25  Lakh shares against 97.34 Lakh shares on offer as of 5 PM. This translated to a subscription of 63%.

Overall, Ather’s IPO was subscribed 16%, receiving 86.16 Lakh bids against 5.33 Cr shares on offer.

The non-institutional investors’ (NIIs) category was booked 0.16X, receiving bids for 23.08 Lakh shares as against 1.46 Cr shares on offer.

Meanwhile, qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) placed bids for a mere 5,060 shares against 2.89 Cr shares reserved for them.

The portion reserved for employees was oversubscribed 1.78 times. They placed bids for 1.77 Lakh shares against 1 Lakh shares on offer.

Ather’s IPO comprises a fresh issue worth up to INR 2,626 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to 1.10 Cr shares. The electric mobility startup set a price band of INR 304 to INR 321 for its IPO, which would close on April 30. Its shares are likely to list on the NSE and the BSE on May 6. 

Tiger Global To Make 8X Gains, Caladium To Mint 2X Returns

Tiger Global, which held a 6.56% stake or 1.97 Cr shares in Ather via Internet Fund III Pte. Ltd., is offloading 4 Lakh shares at the upper price band for around INR 12.84 Cr as part of the OFS. It acquired these shares for around INR 1.54 Cr, translating into 8.33X returns.

On the other hand, Caladium Investment Pte Ltd held a 15.43% stake or 4.65 Cr shares, which it acquired at an average cost of INR 204.24 per share. Caladium is selling 60 Lakh shares for about INR 192.60 Cr, resulting in 1.57X gains on its investment in the EV startup.

Among other selling shareholders, IIT Madras Incubation Cell is offloading 31,050 shares, while IIT Madras Rural Technology and Business Incubator is selling 4,191 shares. They are also set to mint exponential returns on their investment in Ather. It must be noted that IIT Madras was one of the earliest backers of Ather.

Meanwhile, auto giant Hero MotoCorp, the largest shareholder in Ather with a 38.19% stake in the EV company, is not participating in the OFS.

Ahead of its public listing, Ather raised INR 1,340 Cr from 36 anchor investors. The anchor round was led by SBI Mutual Fund, which contributed INR 310 Cr – making up 23% of the total anchor book.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Invesco, and Franklin Templeton, among others, also participated in the anchor round.

India’s Second EV Startup Listing

Founded in 2013 by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, Ather is one of India’s leading two-wheeler EV manufacturers. It also manufactures its own battery packs and has its own charging infrastructure. After building its market on its 450 series of escooters, which comprises Ather 450S, Ather 450X, and Ather 450 Apex, it launched a family escooter series Rizta last year and also forayed into the smart helmet category.

Ather plans to use INR 927.2 Cr of the total net proceeds from the IPO to set up a new electric two-wheeler manufacturing plant in Maharashtra. The EV maker will use INR 40 Cr for debt repayment. It has earmarked INR 750 Cr for R&D initiatives and INR 300 Cr for marketing.

Ather narrowed its consolidated net loss by 26% to INR 577.9 Cr in the nine months ended December 31, 2024 (9M FY25) from INR 776.4 Cr in the year-ago period. Revenue from operations jumped 28% to INR 1,578.9 Cr in the reported period from INR 1,230.4 Cr in 9M FY24.

Ather is set to become the second EV maker in the country to go public after Ola Electric, which launched its INR 6,145 Cr IPO last August. One of the pioneers of India’s EV revolution, Ather has been seeing a healthy uptick in its EV sales.

As per Vahan data, Ather held a 13.8% market share in India’s electric two-wheeler market in FY25, with registrations of its escooters standing at 1.31 Lakh. In comparison, Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric clocked 3.24 Lakh EV two-wheeler registrations during the period and held a 34.1% market share.

Amid the new-age tech IPO frenzy, EV startups Greaves Electric Mobility and Pure EV are also gearing up for a public listing. Greaves, which sells its electric vehicles under the brand name Ampere, filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI for INR 1,000 Cr+ IPO in December last year. However, it is yet to receive the market regulator’s go-ahead to proceed with the issue. In March, Pure EV converted into a public company ahead of its planned IPO, which is expected to be launched this year.