Hyundai India's record $3.3 bln IPO subscribed 18% on first day of bidding

Hyundai Motor India's $3.3 billion IPO was 18 per cent subscribed on first day of bidding on Tuesday, led by employees who placed orders for four-fifths of shares reserved for m in country's largest share sale yet.

three-day share sale, first by an automaker in India in two deces, ends on Thursday. Before open bidding process, institutional investors including BlackRock and Fidelity on Monday snapped up shares worth $989.4 million as part of offering.

initial public offering (IPO) marks Hyundai Motor's first such listing outside South Korea and comes at a time when companies are rushing to go public in an Indian equities market that has risen to record highs.

Over 260 companies in India have raised more than $9 billion through IPOs so far this year, according to LSEG data. That's alrey higher than $7.42 billion raised during same period last year.
share sale is world's second-largest IPO this year following Lineage Inc's $5.1 billion US flotation in July. Employees of Hyundai India bid for 80 per cent of 778,400 shares reserved for m, exchange data showed.

company h offered a discount of 186 rupees per share to eligible employees in IPO, which was priced at 1,865-1,960 rupees per share, months after hundreds of workers at company's main Indian plant at Sriperumbudur near Chennai protested to demand a share allocation.

Qualified institutional buyers including foreign investors, banks, and mutual funds subscribed to 5 per cent of shares allotted for m, while retail investors bid for 26 per cent of ir allocated shares.
Hyundai India is targeting a $19 billion market valuation at upper end of IPO price band. That values company at about 40 per cent of its Korean parent. Its shares are expected to start tring on Oct. 22.
Hyundai is India's No. 2 carmaker by sales with about a 15 per cent share of country's passenger vehicle market and trails only Maruti Suzuki .

However, a rapidly changing competitive landscape has seen domestic rivals Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra eat into South Korean company's market share with new SUVs that are gaining popularity. Higher production capacity would help Hyundai bridge gap with Maruti Suzuki and extend its narrow le over Tata and Mahindra.