Archean Chemical shines on debut, gains 12%

Shares of Archean Chemical

Industries gained more than

12 per cent during their stock market debut on Friday.

Shares of the specialty chemical manufacturer finished at

~458, up ~51, or 12.53 per cent, over its issue price of ~407 per share.

During intraday trade, the stock hit a high of ~476 and a low of ~440.2 on the NSE, where ~1,014 crore worth of shares changed hands. Archean’s Initial public offering (IPO) had garnered 32 times subscription. Through the IPO, the company had raised ~805 crore of fresh capital to pare its debt. Its IPO also consisted of secondary share sale worth ~657 crore.

At the last close, the company was valued at ~5,635 crore, nearly 30 times its FY22 earnings of ~189 crore. During the first quarter of the 2022-23 financial year, Archean Chemical had posted net profit of ~84 crore on revenues of ~400 crore. Analysts said the company’s valuations are in line with some of the listed players in the specialty chemicals space.

The company is focused on producing and exporting bromine, industrial salt, and sulphate of potash. It is one of the largest exporters of bromine and industrial salt by volume. The company gets its raw material from the brine reserves in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. It manufactures its products at the facility near Hajipir in Gujarat. The IPO of the company was subscribed 32.23 times with major support from qualified institutional buyers putting in bids 48.91 times the allotted portion. High net-worth individuals bought 14.90 times the allotted quota and retail portion was booked 9.96 times.