Thomas Cook OFS for Quess oversubscribed 5 times

BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: Thomas Cook India managed to raise more than the planned ₹600 crore from its offer for sale of Quess Corp shares as it was oversubscribed five times on Thursday.

The sale of Thomas Cook’s 5.42% stake in Quess Corp opened on Thursday to institutional investors and bids were received at a clearing price of ₹851, a 6.4% premium to the floor price of ₹800.

Thomas Cook announced on Wednesday that it intended to raise over ₹600 crore by selling stake in Quess to retire long term debt and improve profitability. With Thursday’s closure of the general tranche at ₹651 crore, the total fund raise target stands revised at ₹723 crore, the firm said.

Both Thomas Cook and Quess Corp are controlled by Fairfax Group, founded by Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa.

“After IPO, institutional placement and OFS, this is the third public market exercise from Quess,” Quess Corp CEO Ajit Isaac said. “We are excited by the quality of marquee investors each time, and by the confidence institutions are placing in our growth model.”

“At 6.4%, this is among the highest premium to floor price premiums,” said Chirag Negandhi, co head of investment banking at Axis Capital. “Over the past 17 months we have been able to raise ₹1925 crore through the IPO, the ₹874 crore through institutional placement and the OFS.”