Adani Wilmar valued at about $4.5 billion in market debut

BENGALURU: Shares of leading edible oil maker

Adani Wilmar

Ltd rose as much as 13.5% in their market debut on Tuesday, valuing the company at $4.54 billion.

The listing on the National Stock Exchange comes amid volatility in broader equities as central banks across the globe tackle high inflation and expectations of higher interest rates push foreign investors to exit domestic markets.

The company's shares opened at 227 rupees, a 1.3% discount to the initial public offering price of 230 rupees, before rising as high as 261 rupees.

Adani Wilmar is a joint venture between Adani Group, chaired by billionaire Gautam Adani, and Singapore agribusiness Wilmar International Ltd.

The company offers products across three categories – edible oil, packaged food and industry essentials such as wheat flour, rice and pulses. It is most well known for its "Fortune" brand of cooking oil.

Adani Wilmar's shares were listed at a discount "owing to the weaker sentiments of the secondary market in the last few trading sessions," said Likhita Chepa, senior research analyst, CapitalVia Global Research Limited.

"Given (the company's) wide distribution, healthy financials, strong brand recall, increasing reach and household consumption, its prospects appear to be optimistic over the long term."

The company, which has 22 plants located across 10 states in the country, will use the proceeds from the IPO to mainly fund its capital expenditure requirements and to repay debt.

J.P. Morgan India, BofA Securities India, ICICI Securities and HDFC Bank are among the lead book runners for the IPO.

($1 = 74.6800 rupees)

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