Policybazaar's decent debut

PB Fintech or Policybazaar had a good listing; as against the IPO price of Rs.980/share, the stock got listed at Rs.1150 on the BSE and even scaled an intraday high of Rs.1205.

The IPO had evoked a good response, seeing a subscription of 16.59-times, with QIBs portion subscribing 24.89 times, that of HNIs by 7.82 times and retail investors by 3.31 times.

The IPO proceeds were to be used to increase visibility and awareness of company’s brands — Policybazaar and Paisabazaar. Regarding this, we had said in our IPO Analysis, “Objects of issue are not convincing, like acquisition, when no targets identified and going global, when India itself is highly underpenetrated, are merely ‘structuring’ the IPO to provide a future exit route to existing investors.”

We had concluded, “PB Fintech is a loss-making growth opportunity at demanding valuation. Hence, to protect your portfolio, skip the IPO.”