Smartworks Raises INR 174 Cr From Anchor Investors

SUMMARY

The company allocated 4.3 Mn equity shares to anchor investors at INR 407 per share

As much as 32.04% of the total anchor allotment, or 1.37 Mn shares, were lapped up by three domestic mutual funds — Tata Mutual Funds, Baroda BNP Paribas and Trust Mutual Fund

Other investors that participated in Smartworks’ anchor round were Aditya Birla Sun Life, Axis Mutual Fund, SBI General Insurance, Societe Generale and Buoyant Capital

A day before commencing the bidding for its public issue, Smartworks Coworking Space today raised INR 173.64 Cr from anchor investors.

The company allocated 4.3 Mn equity shares to anchor investors at INR 407 per share, which is the upper end of the company’s IPO price band. Of this, 1.37 Mn shares, or 32.04% of the total anchor allotment, were lapped up by three domestic mutual funds — Tata Mutual Funds (MFs), Baroda BNP Paribas and Trust Mutual Fund.

While Tata MF and Baroda BNP Paribas bought 5.07 Lakh shares each for INR 20.65 Cr, Trust MF bought 3.52 Lakh shares for INR 14.33 Cr under its two funds.

Other investors that participated in Smartworks’ anchor round were Aditya Birla Sun Life, Axis Mutual Fund, SBI General Insurance, Societe Generale and Buoyant Capital.

The company’s public issue is set to go live tomorrow (July 10) and subsequently close on Monday (July 14). Its IPO will comprise a fresh issue of up to INR 445 Cr and an OFS component of up to 33.79 Lakh shares.

The IPO will see promoter entities, NS Niketan LLP and SNS Infrarealty LLP, offload 8 Lakh shares in Smartworks, while Space Solutions India Pte. Ltd. will sell 25.79 Lakh shares in the company.

To note, both the aforementioned Smartwork promoter LLPs are owned and controlled by the company’s founders Neetish Sarda and Harsh Binani.

The Gurugram-based company filed its RHP last week and reduced the size of its fresh issue from INR 550 Cr previously. It also trimmed its OFS component from 67.59 Lakh shares earlier.

The company plans to utilise the IPO proceeds for repayment of certain borrowings, fuel capital expenditure towards security deposits and development of new centres.

Meanwhile, on the financial front, the coworking startup saw its net losses jump 26.5% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 63.2 Cr in the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) while operating revenue grew 32% YoY to INR 1,374 Cr.

In a pre-IPO conference, Smartworks’ management said that the company is looking to achieve breakeven at the unit-building level in the next 12 months.

Smartworks’ total managed campus platform comprises a total super built-up area (SBA) of 9 Mn sq ft across 50 Centres in 15 cities such as Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Mumbai and Chennai. With this, the company claims to be the largest managed campus operator in the country in terms of its total stock.

It is pertinent to note that a number of working space providers in India are looking to go public in the next few months. While IndiQube’s IPO papers received the SEBI’s approval in April, the market regulator is currently processing the public offering bids of WeWork India and Ahmedabad-based DevX.