The ₹2,981-crore IPO of Ather Energy opens today for public subscription. The maker of electric two-wheelers (E2Ws) has fixed the price band at ₹304–321. All eyes are on Ather Energy as this is the first IPO on the main board for FY26. Its grand success could trigger a slew of companies to launch IPOs soon.
The IPO comprises a ₹2,626-crore fresh issue and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of 1.1 crore equity shares by the promoters and other existing shareholders for ₹354.75 crore. The market lot is 46 shares.
Discount to employees
The IPO has allocated at least 75 per cent of the shares to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), not more than 15 per cent to non-institutional investors (NIIs), and up to 10% for retail investors. Additionally, up to 1 lakh equity shares have been set aside for employees, who will receive a discount of ₹30 a share.
Sellers in OFS window
The promoters (Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain) and other shareholders, including Caladium Investment Pte, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund II (NIIF II), IIT-Madras Incubation Cell Corporate, and IITMS Rural Technology Business Incubator will be selling shares in the IPO through the OFS. However, Hero MotoCorp, which holds a 38.2 per cent stake in the EV startup, is not selling any shares in the IPO.
Anchor investors
As part of the IPO exercise, Ather Energy on Friday raised ₹1,340 crore from anchor investors, including several marquee names.
The board of Ather Energy, in consultation with the book running lead managers — Axis Capital Limited, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private Limited, JM Financial Limited, and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited — finalised the allocation of 4.17 crore shares to anchor investors at ₹321 per share.
The anchor investors include Franklin Offshore, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, SBI Mutual Fund, Invesco MF, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Helios Mutual Fund, Eastspring Investments, Prudential Hong Kong, Tocu Europe III SARL, Tata Investment Corporation, and Union Innovation & Opportunities.
Utility of funds
Out of the ₹2,626 crore to be raised through the fresh issue, ₹927.2 crore will be allocated toward setting up a new electric two-wheeler manufacturing facility in Maharashtra. An additional ₹750 crore is earmarked for investments in research and development, while ₹300 crore will be used for marketing initiatives. The company also plans to utilise ₹40 crore for debt repayment.
Ather’s financial performance
The company’s revenue from operations slightly declined in FY24 to ₹1,753.8 crore compared to ₹1,780.9 crore in FY23. The drop was attributed to the reduction in the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric (FAME) subsidies, which took effect on June 1, 2023. This effectively increased the retail price of its electric two-wheelers (E2Ws), leading to a dip in sales revenue.
However, Ather’s E2W sales volume increased following the launch of new variants, including the Ather 450X (2.9 kWh), Ather 450S (its lower-priced model), and the Ather 450 Apex (its most premium model). Revenue from these new variants partially offset the decline in revenue from earlier E2W models, it said in its RHP filed with SEBI.
Ather will be the second electric two-wheeler company to go public after Ola Electric, which was listed in August 2024 with a price band of ₹72-76 per share. The stock is ruling around ₹50. According to Vahan data for March 2025, Ather sold 15,446 vehicles. Bajaj Auto led the segment with 34,863 units, followed by TVS Motor at 30,454, and Ola Electric at 23,430 units.
Published on April 28, 2025
