MUMBAI: To invest in a company, seasoned investors and businessmen look at the strength of the firm’s operations and its future prospects. Usually, they don’t care if the company is listed or unlisted. The long list of individual shareholders in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) proves this point.Late on Wednesday, NSE filed its draft prospectus with markets regulator Sebi to go public through the IPO route that is estimated to be in the upwards of Rs 30,000 crore. This will make it the largest Indian IPO ever.
NSE’s draft IPO documents disclosed that several top investors and seasoned businessmen were holding stakes in the country’s largest bourse. These stakes were built up through trades in the unlisted market, with no plans to sell in the public offer. Of the 421 shareholders in NSE, nearly 200 are individual shareholders, with billionaire investor and D-Mart founder Radhakishan Damani topping the table with a 1.58% stake. Based on an estimated IPO price of Rs 2,200 for each NSE share, Damani’s holding is valued at about Rs 8,600 crore.The 70-year-old is the 13th largest shareholder in NSE while life insurance major LIC, with a 10.72% stake, is the largest shareholder. LIC is followed by Singapore’s Temasek with 4.54% stake.Damani, who is known for his successful stock picks and building solid businesses, was also the largest individual shareholder in HDFC Bank after its 1995 IPO. He also holds an indirect stake in NSE through Damani Estate and Finance, which owns another 0.07%.Sunil Kant Munjal, chairman of Hero Enterprise, owns 0.41% of NSE, making him the second-largest individual shareholder. His stake is estimated to be worth about Rs 2,245 crore.S Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys, and Dubai-based investor Siddharth Balachandran each hold 0.38%, with their stakes worth a little over Rs 2,000 crore apiece. Balachandran also holds about 2% in BSE, NSE’s rival exchange, where he is the largest individual shareholder.Among other individuals, Vanaja Sundar Iyer owns 0.18% in NSE, worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore. Iyer, along with Siddharth Iyer, runs SI Investments & Broking, according to its website. NSE’s shareholder list also shows Siddharth Iyer with a 0.15% stake. Ignatius Noronha, who exited D-Mart as CEO earlier this year, owns 0.12% in NSE, while Sobha founder PNC Menon owns 0.08%, and well-known investor Dolly Khanna holds a 0.06% stake in the country’s largest bourse.Other shareholders include Ambuja Cements founder Narotam Sekhsaria and his son Pulkit Sekhsaria.Industrialists have also routed their investments in NSE through family offices and closely held outfits — Adani Properties and Serum Institute, among others, also own shares in NSE.
