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SEBI introduced anchor investors in 2009. Any Qualified Institutional Investor (QIB) who invests at least Rs 10 crore or more is called an anchor investor in IPOs. Banks, pension funds, asset management or mutual fund companies, foreign institutional investors, insurance companies, etc. can act as anchor investors. Let’s discuss the minimum value of anchor investment in the main board and for SME IPOs, the lock-in period, the minimum reservation for the anchor quota in IPOs, and the share allocation or allotment process in the anchor investor category.
Anchor investors have a significant influence on the pricing of public offerings, generate interest from QIBs and also attract retail investors by creating confidence in the IPO offering.
Anchor investors bid for an IPO at a fixed price within the price range. They can bid one day before the IPO offer opens and the shares are allotted to them on the same day.
On April 1, 22, SEBI revised several guidelines for anchor investors.
Before we proceed, let’s first understand what does anchor investor means.
Anchor investors are qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) who bid at least Rs 10 crore in an IPO.
Any registered institutional investor, be it banks, provident funds, foreign institutional investors, mutual fund companies, etc., can be an anchor investor.
As an anchor investor, they bid at a fixed price, which helps boost retail investor confidence in the IPO and increase public demand for the IPO.
Each IPO is opened for subscription by anchor investors one day before the issue opening date.
Anchor investors invest a substantial amount in an IPO. However, the minimum investment amount for anchor investors is different for mainline and SME IPOs.
In a mainboard IPO, anchor investors make a minimum bid of Rs 10 crore. However, the minimum investment amount is Rs 1 crore in SME IPO.
Can anchor investors sell shares on the listing day? No.
Since anchor investors invest a large amount in an issue, they can influence the IPO price to a large extent. If they sell the shares allotted to them immediately after listing, share prices can fall sharply. To prevent such volatility in share prices, SEBI has put some restrictions on anchor investors by imposing a lock-in period.
There is a minimum lock-in period of 30 days for anchor investments in an IPO. Anchor investors are not allowed to sell the allotted IPO shares during the lock-in period and must hold the shares in their demat account.
In anchor investors' portion, 50% of the shares allotted to them are locked-in for 30 days and the remaining 50% of the allotted shares are locked-in for 90 days. The lock-up period begins on the date of allotment of the shares and not on the date on which they bid for the issue.
After the lock-in period has expired, they are allowed to sell their shares.
All SEBI-registered institutions, including banks, financial institutions, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), pension funds, mutual funds, etc., can be qualifying institutional investors or anchor investors, depending on how much they bid for the IPO.
Let us briefly explain the difference between QIBs and anchor investors;
Basis of difference | Qualified Institutional Bidders (QIBs) | Anchor Investors |
Meaning | Banks, financial institutions, FIIs, FPIs, mutual fund companies, provident fund houses, insurance companies who are SEBI registered are referred to QIBs. | Not all the QIBs are anchor investors rather they are a part of QIBs, if they bid for atleast Rs 10 Crore. |
IPO Bidding Amount or minimum investment | Minimum bidding amount is Rs 2 lakh for QIBs and NIIs. But the point of difference is QIBs are SEBI registered institutions while NIIs are non-registered investors. | IPO bid must exceed Rs 10 crore in mainboard IPO and in SME IPO, minimum anchor investment is Rs 1 crore. |
IPO Reservation | IPO bid must exceed Rs 10 crore in mainboard IPO and in SME IPO, minimum anchor investment is Rs 1 crore. | 30% of total issue size or 60% of QIB reservation can be allotted to anchor investors. |
Lock-in | There is no lock-in period for qualified investors as they can sell their shares anytime on or after IPO listing. | Anchor investors cannot exit before 30 days after they receive shares allotment. After expiry of 30 days, they can sell 50% of their shareholdings and after 90 days of allotment, remaining 50% shares can be offloaded. |
Generally, in any public issue, shares are reserved for three categories of investors: QIBs (Qualified Institutional Buyers), High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs) and Retail Individual Investors (RIIs).
As anchor investors are a subset of QIBs, a company can allocate a maximum of 60% of issue portion available to QIBs. Means a company is allowed to allot 60% of the IPO shares reserved for QIBs or 30% of the total IPO issue size to the anchor investors.
Let’s take an example to understand it.
Suppose a company offered Rs 10,000 Cr IPO to the public. Now, issue size reserved for QIBs, NIIs, and RIIs will be as follows;
QIB: 50% i.e., Rs 5,000 Cr
NII: 15% i.e., Rs 1,500 Cr
RII: 35% i.e., Rs 3,500 Cr
The issue has Rs 5,000 Cr reserved for QIBs, out of which, 60% i.e., 3,000 Cr can be allotted to anchor investors. Thus, the company can allocate total IPO shares worth Rs 3,000 Cr under the Anchor Investors Portion. All-in-all, anchor investment in an issue is capped at 60% of QIB quota or 30% of the total issue size.
Out of total allocation in Anchor Investors category, 1/3rd of the total shares are reserved for allotment to domestic mutual fund houses.
SEBI has laid down some rules a company must follow while allotting shares under the anchor investment quota. Here are the IPO allotment rules applicable to anchor investors;
As a potential investor, you need to be aware of the role that anchor investors play in an IPO;
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Anchor investors can bid for any IPO one working day prior to the date when the issue opens for subscription.
Say an IPO opens for subscription from 19 April to 21 April so anchor investors bidding date will be 18 April.
No, QIBs and Anchor investors cannot modify or cancel their bids after it is submitted. Also, anchor investors pay the IPO application amount at the time when bid is submitted. If the company makes allotment at a higher price, additional funds needs to be paid by anchor investors.
Both the BSE and NSE exchange publishes an Anchor Intimation Letter for every public issue. It contains details about allocation to anchor investors including the list of anchor investors, share allocation price, and shares allotted to anchor investors.
Here are the links to find the list of anchor investors for an IPO. Select the company name, and check for Anchor Intimation Letter or Anchor Allocation Report.
No, every IPO does not necessarily have anchor investors. QIBs who bid for Rs 10 crore or more (in mainline IPO) and Rs 1 crore or more (in SME IPO) are included in the list of anchor investors. If no bid is received for the said amount, all investors will be in the QIB category.