PRNewswire
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 21: Soach Global Strategic Holdings Limited, Mauritius, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Soach Global Opportunities Fund (together, "Soach Global"), is part exiting from its decade-long investment in the National Stock Exchange of India Limited ("NSE"). The Fund is selling through the offer for sale in NSE's initial public offering, which opened today.
The Fund acquired 1,50,000 NSE equity shares from Industrial Finance Corporation of India Limited (IFCI) in January 2016 at ₹3,950 per share, aggregating ₹59.25 crore. Over the following decade, the holding multiplied to 82,50,000 shares through corporate actions, without any additional investment. Adjusted for these corporate actions, the Fund's average acquisition cost is ₹71.8 per share.
The Fund is now selling 16,50,000 equity shares, which is 20% of its holding, at the IPO price band of ₹1,700 to ₹1,785 per share, valuing the sale at approximately ₹280 to ₹295 crore. This realises nearly five times the Fund's entire original investment, a return of roughly 25x. The Fund will continue to hold 66,00,000 shares, 80% of its position, valued at approximately ₹1,120 to ₹1,180 crore at the price band.
"Bharat is a fast-growing economy with a large number of growth-aspiring youngsters who are quickly learning the risks and rewards of participating in capital markets. We are participating in the offer for sale and selling a partial stake of what we own because we would like to see a large number of the mass retail population hold some stake of NSE. As these retail investors buy small stakes in NSE, directly or indirectly through mutual funds, they will also benefit from the growth of NSE, the same way we have by buying our stake over ten years ago. Of India's 1.4 billion people, only about 130 million are registered investors on NSE, and that is the opportunity," said Anubhav Dayal, Founder & Director, Soach Global Opportunities Fund.
"In our country, we have a culture of buying gold at a festival or for a ceremony. Gold, once purchased by a family, is held for a long time, even generations. It is sold only when in desperate need of money. Retail buyers can compare shares of NSE with buying gold. As a multi-asset-class trading platform, NSE will book growth in revenue while operating at a fixed cost, most of it already incurred. It is a high-technology platform settling trades in nanoseconds, and a multi-asset-class exchange: equity, commodities, electricity futures, bond index futures and coal. As India develops, the list of tradable products will only increase, adding to revenues on a largely fixed cost base. This will reflect in its price per share post-listing. This is a one-way partial exit and we have no plans of re-entering," he added.
About Anubhav Dayal
Anubhav has over 20 years of experience in banking and investment advisory. He started his career with HSBC Group in India, gaining experience across multiple areas of banking, before moving to Hong Kong to manage HSBC's Non-Resident Indian business for Asia-Pacific. After over nine years with the HSBC Group, he joined Societe Generale Bank and Trust, Hong Kong, as Director, Marketing, a position he held for over five years.
Beyond his work with Soach Global, Anubhav is engaged with India's capital market innovation ecosystem. He participated in Manthan Ideathon, organised by SEBI in association with NSE, BSE, NSDL, CDSL, NCDEX, MCX, Link Intime and other fintech companies, where his concept, the Virtual Food Grain Asset (VFGA), was a winning entry. He now plans to set up a VFGA exchange platform at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company (GIFT City), enabling teams of farmers to sell tokenised food grain assets to overseas buyers, with transparent global price discovery and foreign currency proceeds that add to India's FX reserves.
Anubhav holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Corporate and Financial Law from The University of Hong Kong, a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the University of Delhi, a Professional Certificate in FinTech from The University of Hong Kong, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from Amity Business School, NOIDA, and a B.Sc. (Statistics Honours) from Hindu College, University of Delhi.
About Soach Global Opportunities Fund
Soach Global Opportunities Fund, Mauritius, is the parent of Soach Global Strategic Holdings Limited, Mauritius, its 100% investment-holding subsidiary, which holds the Fund's 82,50,000 equity shares in NSE.
About Soach Global
Soach Global Corporation Limited is a Hong Kong based group with interests in fund management and advisory. The group focuses on businesses that enhance trade, commerce and long-term investment both in India and globally, and has ambitious plans to diversify into other fields of business that can thrive on Hong Kong's position as a major international business and financial centre.
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