Policybazaar surges 16% after strong debut, up 43% against issue price

Shares of PB Fintech, the parent company of Policybazaar, rallied another 16 per cent to Rs 1,397 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Tuesday’s intra-day trade after a strong market debut on Monday. With today’s rally, the stock has surged 43 per cent against its issue price of Rs 980 per share.

A sharp rally in market price of the company has helped PB Fintech enter the top-100 most valuable companies in terms of market capitalisation (market-cap). At 09:45 am; with market-cap of Rs 60,842 crore PB Fintech stood at the 95th position in overall market-cap ranking, the BSE data showed.

On Monday, November 15, 2021, Capital Research And Management Co A/C New World Fund Inc had purchased 3.41 million equity shares worth of Rs 408 crore of PB Fintech via block deals on the NSE. The foreign portfolio investor bought shares at price of Rs 1,192.96 per share, data shows. The name of seller was not ascertained as of now.

Policybazaar – the flagship platform –is India’s largest digital insurance marketplace, market share as of FY20 was 93.4 per cent, based on the number of policies sold through online insurance distribution platforms. It has partnered with 48 insurers, and has 51.1 million registered consumers on its platform. It has sold 20.7 million policies on its platform and has 10 million unique transacting customers.

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of PB Fintech had received a good response with the issue subscribed nearly 16.59 times. The institutional portion was subscribed 24.89 times; the wealthy investor portion by 7.82 times and the retail investor portion 3.31 times, data shows. The IPO consisted of a fresh issue to raise Rs 3,750 crore and an offer for sale of shares worth Rs 1,960 crore by existing shareholders.

The company aims to utilize Rs 1,500 crore from the net proceeds of the issue for enhancing visibility and awareness of brands, including but not limited to ‘Policybazaar’ and ‘Paisabazaar’. The company wants to utilize Rs 375 crore for pursuing new opportunities to expand its consumer base including offline presence, Rs 600 crore for strategic investments and acquisitions and Rs 375 crore for expanding presence outside India. In addition, the company expects to receive the benefits of listing of the equity shares on the stock exchanges.

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