FirstCry Listing: Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and several prominent investors, including Harsh Mariwala, Ranjan Pai, and Kanwaljit Singh, have seen substantial gains following FirstCry's successful stock market debut on August 12. The company's shares, which were initially offered at a price band of Rs 440-465, surged to close at Rs 673.45 on the first day of trading — a 45 per cent premium over the issue price.
Tendulkar and other major investors, who initially faced a 10 per cent loss on their FirstCry shares post-IPO, are now enjoying a 38 per cent gain from their average buying price of Rs 487.44. Tendulkar's investment has risen from Rs 9.99 crore to Rs 13.82 crore following the listing.
Among other high-profile investors, former Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata, who held 77,900 shares of FirstCry pre-IPO at an average price of Rs 84.72 per share, also benefited. While Tata was listed as a selling shareholder, the extent of his sale remains undisclosed. However, at the upper end of the IPO price, he could have earned five times his initial investment, with potential returns increasing to seven times if he continues to hold shares at the listing price.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), which held an 11 per cent stake in FirstCry with shares bought at Rs 77.96 each, also stands to gain significantly. The company sold 28.06 lakh shares during the offer for sale (OFS) and now holds 5.05 crore shares, valued at Rs 3,403 crore based on FirstCry's closing price. This marks a substantial increase from M&M's initial investment of Rs 389 crore.
Last year, SoftBank-backed FirstCry founder Supam Maheshwari sold part of their holdings. Maheshwari, who currently holds a 5.95 per cent stake in the company, sold shares worth Rs 300 crore during the pre-IPO round in 2023.
The IPO also saw several other notable investors, including Tendulkar's wife Anjali, Mariwala’s family office Sharp Ventures, Ranjan Pai’s family office, and others, acquire significant stakes in the company. The offer included a fresh issue of Rs 1,666 crore and an OFS valued at Rs 2,527.72 crore at the upper end of the price band, bringing the total issue size to Rs 4,187.72 crore and FirstCry's market capitalisation to Rs 34,964 crore.
FirstCry's parent company, BrainBees, had initially filed draft IPO papers with SEBI last December but withdrew them following SEBI's request for more clarity on key performance indicators (KPIs). Despite these earlier challenges, FirstCry's strong market debut has rewarded its early investors handsomely.