SBI Funds Management Ltd. made a strong debut on Indian stock exchanges today, with shares listing at a 6.27% premium on the BSE and at Rs 613.30 on the NSE, against an IPO issue price of Rs 574 per share, according to Business Today. The listing generated multi-crore wealth for several employees who held stock options from the company’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) launched in 2018.
IPO Debut and Subscription Details
The stock opened at Rs 610 on the BSE, a gain of 6.27% from the issue price, and listed at Rs 613.30 on the NSE. The IPO, which was open from July 14 to July 16, saw robust demand. The issue was subscribed nearly 42 times overall, with the qualified institutional buyer (QIB) portion oversubscribed around 140 times. The non-institutional investor category saw subscriptions of 22.51 times, while the retail segment was subscribed 3.6 times, according to Business Today.
Ahead of the IPO, SBI Funds raised nearly Rs 2,663 crore from anchor investors, with 129 marquee institutions—including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs—participating in the allocation. It had also secured approximately Rs 1,880 crore through a pre-IPO placement.
Employee Stock Ownership Creates Crorepatis
At the IPO price of Rs 574 per share, 13 employees own equity stakes valued at more than Rs 1 crore each. The top beneficiaries are:
- Deputy Managing Director Devinder Pal Singh: 21.14 lakh vested shares valued at nearly Rs 121 crore, plus unvested stock options worth about Rs 30 crore if exercised.
- Chief Investment Officer Srinivasan Rama Iyer: 18.25 lakh vested shares valued at around Rs 105 crore, with unvested options worth roughly Rs 51 crore.
- Chief of Strategy, Digital & Technology and Head of Investor Relations Srinivas Jain: vested shares worth close to Rs 59 crore.
- Chief Investment Officer – Fixed Income Rajeev Radhakrishnan: holdings valued at about Rs 36 crore.
- Chief Risk Officer Aparna Nirgude: vested stake worth approximately Rs 31 crore.
- Chief Compliance Officer, Company Secretary and Head of Legal Vinaya Datar: vested shares valued at around Rs 21 crore.
Other senior leaders with vested shares worth more than Rs 1 crore include Chief Financial Officer Inderjeet Ghuliani, Chief Human Resources Officer Rajat Grover, Chief Information Security Officer Sanjay Pugaonkar, and fund managers Mohan Lal and Mahesh Chhabria, according to the company’s prospectus.
ESOP Programme from 2018
The ESOP programme, originally launched in 2018 and revised subsequently, allotted options with exercise prices ranging from about Rs 39 to Rs 455 per share. With the IPO priced at Rs 574 per share, employees who remained with the company through its expansion have realised significant gains on these grants, Business Today reported.
Institutional Investor Interest
The strong institutional demand was evident in the subscription figures. The anchor book included BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, among 129 marquee institutions. The pre-IPO placement of approximately Rs 1,880 crore further underscored investor confidence in India’s largest asset management company.
| Employee | Designation | Vested Stake Value (Rs crore) | Unvested Options Value (Rs crore) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Devinder Pal Singh | Deputy Managing Director | 121 | 30 |
| Srinivasan Rama Iyer | Chief Investment Officer | 105 | 51 |
| Srinivas Jain | Chief of Strategy, Digital & Technology and Head of Investor Relations | 59 | - |
| Rajeev Radhakrishnan | Chief Investment Officer – Fixed Income | 36 | - |
| Aparna Nirgude | Chief Risk Officer | 31 | - |
| Vinaya Datar | Chief Compliance Officer, Company Secretary and Head of Legal | 21 | - |
Note: Values based on IPO issue price of Rs 574 per share. Unvested options values are estimates from the prospectus.
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