Vijay Kedia-backed TAC Security sees bids worth $1 billion; issue subscribed 422 times

Veteran investor Vijay Kedia-backed TAC Security IPO received a strong response from all segments of investors with the issue getting subscribed 422 times, with bids coming in for 79.38 crore shares (valued at $1 billion at the upper price band) against an issue size of 18.81 lakh share between March 27 and April 2.

The Rs 29.99 crore public offer was entirely a fresh issue of 28.29 lakh shares. The price band for the offer was fixed at Rs 100-106 per share. TAC Security which is also known as TAC Infosec will be the first pure-play cyber security company to get listed.

Qualified institutional buyers picked 141 times, non-institutional investors bought 768.83 times and retail investors bid 433.54 times of the allotted quota.

Post issue, founder Trishneet Arora holds a 54.02 percent stake, followed by ace investor Vijay Kedia who owns 10.95 percent, and his son Ankit Kedia 3.65 percent stake in the company. Charanjit Singh and Subinder Jeet Singh Khurana hold 2.92 percent and 1.46 percent stakes, respectively.

Ahead of the IPO, the SME company raised Rs 8.54 crore from five anchor investors namely NAV Capital VCC - NAV Capital Emerging Star Fund, Astorne Capital VCC, Beacon Stone Capital VCC - Beacon Stone I, Zinnia Global Fund PCC - Cell Dewcap Fund and LC Radiance Fund VCC.

The shares will be listed on the NSE SME platform on April 5. As of April 3, the stock was commanding a 94.34 percent premium in the grey market implying an estimated listing price of Rs 206.

With the massive subscription, TAC Security has become the seventh most subscribed public offer of 2024 in the SME segment. Kay Cee Energy and Infra (1052x), Maxposure (987.47x), and Koura Fine Diamond Jewelry (733x) are the top three most subscribed IPOs so far.

TAC Security plans to use the net proceeds from the IPO to invest in human resources and product development to support organic growth in India and investment in TAC Security INC. (Delaware, USA) to hire skilled personnel for organic growth outside India. The remaining capital will be used for general corporate purposes.

The company reported a total revenue of Rs 5.02 crore in the first half of FY24 and a profit (PAT) of Rs 1.94 crore. In FY23, its PAT stood at Rs 5.07 Cr on a revenue of Rs 10 crore.

Beeline Capital Advisors was the book-running lead manager and Skyline Financial Services was the registrar for the issue. Trishneet Arora and Charanjit Singh are the promoters of the company.

Tac Infosec offers risk-based vulnerability management and assessment solutions, cybersecurity quantification, and services of penetration testing to domestic and international organisations of any scale, size, and business through the "SaaS model".