IIT-M Alumni is the Latest Billionaire in India after Bumper IPO Listing. Know More
The initial public offer or IPO of Latent View Analytics Limited was a bumper hit at the Dalal Street when it got listed earlier this week. The Latent View shares made a strong listing at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE), trading at a 169 per cent premium of the final issue price of Rs 197 per share. While it was a good news for all the lucky investors who got the shares during the Latent View IPO share allotment, it made one person a billionaire. Adugudi Viswanathan Venkatraman, the promoter of digital solutions firm Latent View Analytics Limited, is now worth more than a billion dollars.
Venkataraman, who is the chairperson and the executive director of Latent View Analytics Limited, holds 117.91 crore shares in the company. This means he has 69.62 per cent stake in the firm. If the closing price of Thursday, November 25 is considered, Venkataraman’s stake at Latent View amounts to Rs 8,275 core, which is roughly equal to $1.11 billion. The stocks closed at Rs 702.35 on the day at the BSE.
Adugudi Viswanathan Venkatraman holds a wide portfolio in the business sector. A graduate from IIT-Madras, the techie then did his post graduation from IIM Calcutta — both being two of the finest education hubs in the country. Thereafter, he joined IT MNC Cognizant. He has several years of experience in IT services, credit analysis and business consulting. Venkataraman was the director of Latent View Analytics since January 3, 2007 and was promoted as the chairman and executive director of the company with effect from August 2021.
The Chennai-based firm stole the spotlight earlier this month when it set a new record of being subscribed 338 times over its issue size during its maiden public offer. This was much higher than the IPOs that were listed along with it, including high profile companies like Nykaa, Paytm and PolicyBazaar. The bidding process generated about Rs 1.13 trillion amid strong demand from investors.
The stock of the company also made a bumper debut at the market on November 23, listing at over 48 per cent from its issue price of Rs 197 a share at the upper end of the price band. The stock also touched the upper circuit of 20 per cent for two consecutive sessions. As of now, the stock is trading at over 256 per cent from its issue price. At 10 am on November 23, the stock was priced at Rs 527, higher by 166 per cent from the issue price.
Latent View Analytics Ltd (LVAL) is among the leading pure-play data analytics services companies in India based on its expertise of the entire value chain of data analytics from data and analytics consulting to business analytics and insights, advanced predictive analytics, data engineering and digital solutions. The company serves clients across countries in the United States, Europe, and Asia through its subsidiaries in the United States, Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom and Singapore, and its sales offices in San Jose, London and Singapore.
Qualified institutional buyers could buy up to 75 per cent of the shares, while non-institutional investors could bid for 15 per cent of the shares. The remaining 10 per cent had been reserved for retail investors. The company planned to utilise the proceeds from the fresh issue in funding inorganic growth initiatives (Rs 147.9 crore), working capital requirements of LatentView Analytics Corporation, its material subsidiary (Rs 82.4 crore). The proceeds would also be used for investment in subsidiaries to augment its capital base for future growth and for general corporate purposes.