Maharaja Foods’ Rs. 125 m IPO oversubscribed by nearly three times

• Retailers alone had snapped up IPO with over 300 applications worth Rs. 234.2 m, whilst overall 662 applications worth Rs. 322 m

Maharaja Foods Ltd.’s Rs. 125 million Initial Public Offering (IPO) had drawn demand worth nearly three times, auguring well for the women-led and export oriented SME.

The IPO of 25 million shares at Rs. 5 each was oversubscribed on its official opening day on 4 July.

It had received 662 applications requesting for 64.436 million shares worth Rs. 322.183 million.

Reflecting strong retail interest, there had been 307 applications with bank drafts/cheques requesting for shares worth Rs. 234.2 million and 353 applications with TGS/SLIPS payments requesting for 7.39 million shares worth Rs. 37 million. Applications with bank guarantee amounted to two worth Rs. 51 million.

Maharaja Foods is a manufacturer, exporter, and distributor of authentic Sri Lankan foods and other groceries. It is the first IPO for the Colombo Stock Exchange’s (CSE’s) Empower Board where the company is a women-owned enterprise, led by Non-Independent Executive Director Thavamalar Guganathan, with founders’ origins from Velani, Jaffna in the Northern Province.

It was also the maiden CSE listing under the USAID CATALYZE Sri Lanka Private Sector Development (PSD) Activity’s Funding Readiness Program, aimed at facilitating equity capital for SMEs through CSE listings and private investors. 

SME-listing specialist Atarah Capital was the financial adviser and manager to the offer and sponsor of the IPO.