From Sachin Tendulkar To Ratan Tata; Here's How Much The Investors Of FirstCry Made Post Strong Listing

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, alongside prominent investors Harsh Mariwala, Ranjan Pai, and Kanwaljit Singh, has reaped profits from their investments in FirstCry, following the company's robust debut on the stock market. FirstCry, India's leading online retailer for baby products, saw its shares list at Rs 651 on August 12, a strong start that translated into significant gains for its early backers.

Initially, these high-profile investors faced a setback when the IPO price band for FirstCry was set at Rs 440-465 per share, leading to an immediate 10% loss on their investments. However, the tide turned when the stock closed at Rs 673.45 on its listing day, marking a 45% premium over the issue price. This performance provided Sachin Tendulkar and the other investors with a 38% gain from their initial buying price of Rs 487.44 per share.

For Tendulkar, the successful listing of FirstCry shares transformed his initial investment of Rs 9.99 crore into Rs 13.82 crore. Tendulkar, along with the other investors, continues to hold shares in FirstCry.

Another name associated with FirstCry's success story is former Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata. Holding 77,900 shares pre-IPO, Tata acquired these at an average price of Rs 84.72 per share. Despite being listed as a selling shareholder, the extent of Tata's share sale remains unclear. However, at the upper end of the IPO price band, his investment saw a five-fold return. If Tata still holds shares, the returns would have swelled to seven times the original investment at the listing price.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) also made substantial gains from its stake in FirstCry. With an 11% stake acquired at Rs 77.96 per share, the company was well-positioned to benefit from FirstCry's stock market performance. M&M participated in the offer for sale (OFS), selling 28.06 lakh shares. Despite this, the company retains a holding of 5.05 crore shares, which are now valued at Rs 3,403 crore based on FirstCry's closing price. This represents an almost seven-fold increase from M&M's initial investment of Rs 389 crore.

FirstCry's founder, Supam Maheshwari, and SoftBank, one of the company's major backers, have also navigated their investments. Both sold part of their holdings last year, prior to the IPO. Maheshwari, who now holds a 5.95% stake in the company, sold shares worth Rs 300 crore during the pre-IPO round in 2023.

Notably, during this pre-IPO phase, a wave of high-profile investors, including Sachin Tendulkar and his wife Anjali, Mariwala's family office Sharp Ventures, and Ranjan Pai's family office, acquired stakes in FirstCry. Mariwala's Sharp Ventures bought 20.5 lakh shares, while Ranjan Pai's family office purchased 51.3 lakh shares. Kanwaljit Singh bought 3,07,730 shares, Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan's family office acquired 6,15,460 shares, and DSP founder Hemendra Kothari secured 8,20,614 shares.

FirstCry's IPO was a mix of a fresh issue and an offer for sale. The fresh issue raised Rs 1,666 crore, while the offer for sale was valued at Rs 2,527.72 crore at the upper end of the price band, bringing the total issue size to Rs 4,187.72 crore. This offering valued the company at Rs 34,964 crore, reflecting investor confidence in FirstCry's growth trajectory.

BrainBees, FirstCry's parent company, initially filed its draft IPO papers with SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) in December of the previous year. However, the company had to withdraw the draft following SEBI's request for greater clarity on key performance indicators (KPIs). While SEBI required 25 KPIs to be disclosed, FirstCry had initially provided only 5-6 in its first filing, as reported by Moneycontrol. This led to a delay in the IPO process as the company worked to meet SEBI's requirements.

*Inputs from Moneycontrol*