MFs Place Heavy Bets on Fresh Offerings; ICICI Pru, SBI Lead Allocation

Indian mutual funds are taking sizeable, high-conviction positions in recently listed companies, and two names stand out. Logistics platform Shadowfax Technologies and media technology company Amagi Media Labs have attracted the largest purchases by asset managers, with ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund at the front of the queue as institutions ride the momentum that followed the listings. 

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Shadowfax: ICICI Prudential's ₹1,019.6-crore position 

In absolute terms, the biggest single allocation belongs to ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, which has put ₹1,019.6 crore into Shadowfax Technologies. That buys the fund house a 6.95% stake in a company valued at ₹14,680 crore, whose shares have risen 136.44% since debut. 

Ownership of Shadowfax is clustered among the larger asset managers. Nippon India Mutual Fund holds a further ₹360.9 crore, a 2.46% stake, and Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund holds ₹232.0 crore, or 1.58%. 

Amagi: SBI MF takes the largest stake 

SBI Mutual Fund, the country's largest fund manager, owns the single biggest stake among top institutional investors in any of these new listings: 7.65% of Amagi Media Labs, worth ₹968.8 crore against the company's market valuation of ₹12,660.55 crore. Amagi has delivered a 61.51% gain since listing, rewarding the institutions that came in early. 

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund also holds the cloud broadcast company, with a ₹212.2 crore position amounting to 1.68%, while Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund owns ₹300.9 crore, or 2.38%. 

Two strategies beyond the headline names 

Away from Shadowfax and Amagi, fund managers are following two different approaches: crowding into the same counter, or picking concentrated bets in smaller companies. 

Sedemac Mechatronics is the clearest example of the first. It is the most institutionally held of the recent listings, appearing among the top positions of four large fund houses, SBI, ICICI Prudential, Aditya Birla Sun Life and HDFC, each of which holds between 2.04% and 2.86% of the company. 

The second approach shows up in more selective, higher-weight holdings in smaller firms. Bandhan Mutual Fund has taken a 4.98% stake in Amir Chand Jagdish Kumar, and Kotak Mahindra holds 4.67% of MV Electrosystems.