The anchor portion of the FPO, which will open for retail investors later this week, was oversubscribed around 1.5-2 times, according to people aware of the development. The oversubscription for the anchor book came on a day when short seller Hindenburg raised concerns over the Adani group’s debt position, resulting in steep losses in several Adani group stocks.

The FPO will run from January 27-31.  

 “The FPO Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company.... .in consultation with... (the “Book Running Lead Managers") have finalized allocation of 1,82,68,925 FPO Equity Shares in aggregate, to the Anchor Investors at the Anchor Investor Allocation Price of Rs. 3,276/- per FPO Equity Share..."

Anchor investors have paid half of the ₹5984.9 crore, or ₹1638 per share comprising around ₹2992.45 crore, with the balance amount of ₹1638 per FPO share being payable at one or more calls by the company board.  

Singapore based Maybank Securities Pte is the biggest investor, accounting for 34.09% of the anchor portion, with a total bid value of ₹2040 crore. Other large investors included NBFC Winro Commercial (India) which was allocated shares worth ₹334.99 crore, ELM Park Fund ( ₹339 crore), LIC ( ₹299.99 crore), ADIA ( ₹153.42 crore), SBI EPF ( ₹99.99 crore), SBI Life (124.99 crore), BNP Paribas Arbitrage ( ₹250 crore), Societe Generale ( ₹100 crore), Goldman Sachs Investment ( ₹146 crore) and Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) ₹82 crore. The share of AEL ended down a percent and a half at ₹3388.95 apiece on Wednesday ahead of the allocation details to the anchor investors. The stock has gyrated between a 52-week high-low of ₹4190-1528.8.  

There will be a lock-in of 90 days on 50% of the FPO shares allotted to anchor investors from the date of allotment and another 30 days on the remaining 50% shares from the allotment date.  

 “The FPO aims to maximise retail and HNI categories as they are inter -generational investors unlike MFs or DIIs who have a much shorter time horizon for investments," Jugishender “Robbie" Singh, Adani Group CFO, told Mint earlier.  

Post the ₹20000 crore FPO retail investor holding in AEL will increase from around 1.4% to around 3.6%, he added.

Queried on steep valuations of his group companies becoming a likely roadblock for retail investors , Singh said , “ High equity valuations imply that people value our growth and  this reduces our risk premium which in turn will boost the value of our utility business."

To draw retail investors, the company will give an added discount of ₹64 per partly paid up share from the cut-off price. The price range of the FPO, running through January 27-31,  has been fixed between ₹3112 and ₹3276.