Quick Heal's market debut on shaky wicket, stock tumbles 21%

MUMBAI: Security software provider Quick Heal Technologies made a weak debut on the bourses on Thursday with the stock ending 20% below its public offer price. The stock, which listed at Rs 304.95, at a discount of 5% to the issue price of Rs 321, closed at Rs 254.45.

This was the weakest listing of an IPO in more than five years. Brokers said sentiment was nervous on news Manohar Malani of NCS Computech, an erstwhile distributor of Quick Heal, complained to Sebi that he, along with his family members, has a huge stake in the company, but the information has not been disclosed by the company.

However, Quick Heal has rubbished the claims made by Malani. The company said they had stopped business ties with NCS in 2014 on account of outstanding dues. The IPO prospectus of Quick Heal said it had filed cases against NCS alleging cheating, criminal breach of trust and dishonouring of cheques.

Malani claimed that he had been allotted 20,000 shares of Quick Heal in the year 2000, which, after several bonus issues, translates into a considerable stake. The Rs 451-crore IPO by the software provider was subscribed 11 times. The price band for the issue was set at Rs 311-321 per share.

The IPO consisted of fresh issue of Rs 250 crore and an offer for sale of about 62.70 lakh equity shares by promoters Kailash Sahebrao Katkar and Sanjay Sahebrao Katkar as well as Sequoia Capital India Investment Holdings III.