The initial public offering (IPO) of RARE Enterprises-backed Concord Biotech opened on Friday for subscribers and it will remain open for bidders till August 8, 2023. The public issue aims to raise Rs 1,551 crore and the book build issue is completely offer for sale (OFS) in nature. The bio-pharma firm has fixed the IPO price band at Rs 705 to Rs 741 per share. On Thursday, Concord Biotech said it has collected Rs 465 crore from anchor investors ahead of its IPO.


The company has allocated 62.74 lakh equity shares to 41 funds at Rs 741 apiece, which is also the upper end of the price band, according to a circular uploaded on the BSE website.


The government of Singapore, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Amundi Funds, Pinebridge Global Funds, Polar Capital Funds, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company, Tata AIF Life Insurance Company, Max Life Insurance Co Ltd and Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Company are among the anchor investors. Other fund houses, including Nippon India Mutual Fund (MF), UTI MF, Edelweiss MF, Bandhan MF, DSP MF, and Motilal Oswal Mutual, have been allocated shares in the anchor round.


The IPO of the Ahmedabad-based company is entirely an Offer For Sale (OFS) of 2.09 crore equity shares by Helix Investment Holdings Pte Limited, which is backed by private equity firm Quadria Capital. The offer includes a reservation for subscriptions by eligible employees. Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Citigroup Global Markets India, and Jefferies India are the book-running lead managers to the issue. The equity shares are proposed to be listed on the BSE and NSE. 


Concord is among the leading manufacturers of fermentation-based biopharmaceutical APIs, focused on niche segments, such as immunosuppressant, oncology, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. It has three manufacturing facilities, which are Valthera, Dholka, and Limbasi, in Gujarat. Currently, the firm has 23 Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) products. The company is backed by Quadria Capital Fund and Rare Enterprises, which was set up by billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who passed away last year, along with his wife Rekha.


Concord's revenue from operations rose by 20 per cent to Rs 853.17 crore in the financial year 2023 from Rs 713 crore in the previous year. Additionally, its profit after tax surged 37 per cent to Rs 240 crore in FY23 as compared to Rs 175 crore a year ago.