Mankind Pharma rallies 32% on day 1

Mumbai: Mankind Pharma made a strong stock market debut on Tuesday with the stock listing 20% above its initial public offering price of ₹1,080. The stock, which listed at ₹1,300 apiece, ended at ₹1,424, nearly 32% higher than the offer price. Analysts remain bullish about the stock's prospects but recommend traders locking in profits for now.

At Tuesday's closing price, Mankind Pharma was valued at a price-to-earnings ratio of 43 times its FY22 earnings. Mankind is now India's fifth largest pharma company by market value of ₹57,046 crore. Sun Pharma, Divi's Lab, Dr. Reddy's Lab, and Cipla are currently valued between ₹75,284 crore and ₹2.31 lakh crore.

The ₹4,326-crore public issue of Mankind Pharma - the biggest IPO in 2023 so far- was subscribed 15.32 times. It was an offer for sale (OFS) by existing shareholders.

The IPO was the largest ever by a domestic drug maker since Gland Pharma came up with its ₹6,480 crore public issue in November 2020.

"The healthcare sector was a laggard over the last one year but started seeing traction over the last two months as the monthly pharma data showed improvement. Mankind received a good response from its anchor clients given its domestic-focused business with strong brand recall in chronic and consumer healthcare segments," said Hemang Jani, head of equity strategy at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.