The initial public offering (IPO) of Mrs Bectors Food Specialities on Thursday became the most sought after issue in three years as investors made a beeline for the share sale.

The IPO was subscribed 198 times as it received bids for 2,62,10,42,200 shares against 1,32,36,211 shares on offer, according to data available with the NSE. At the lower end of the price band, the value of these bids comes to around Rs 75,000 crore.

The price band for the share sale was set at Rs 286-288 per share and the offer comprises a fresh issue of Rs 40.54 crore and an offer-for-sale of up to Rs 500 crore. On its last day of subscription, the offering saw bids from high net worth individuals coming in at over 652 times, while it was 178 times in the case of qualified institutional buyers and over 29.50 times from retail investors.

Its investor interest also beat that of Burger King which was subscribed more than 156 times.

The company is present in the premium and mid-premium biscuits segment and the premium bakery segment. It manufactures and markets a range of biscuits such as cookies, creams, crackers, digestives and glucose under its flagship brand “Mrs. Bector’s Cremica”. It also makes bakery products that include breads, buns, pizza bases and cakes under its brand “English Oven”.

Jubilant soars

Shares of Jubilant Foodworks jumped to a record high after the operator of Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin’ Donuts announced its foray into the biryani business, betting on the popularity of the rice-based dish among Indian diners.

The food service company will sell biryani under the brand Ekdum!, with prices starting from Rs 99, it said in a filing to the stock exchanges on Wednesday.

On the BSE, the share hit a new 52-week high of Rs 2927.50, a rise of 9.43 per cent over its previous close. Though the counter gave up some of its gains, it closed at Rs 2,803.75, which was around Rs 128.55 or 4.81 per cent higher over the previous close. It now has a market share of over Rs 37,000 crore.

Meanwhile, shares of Burger King witnessed a two-sided movement as it surged another 10 per cent on Thursday to an intra-day high of Rs 219.15. However, profit taking came in and the share settled at 179.35, a fall of almost 10 per cent.

Jubliant Foodworks said in order to drive convenience and ease of ordering, Ekdum! will offer an easy-to-use app, mobile and desktop website. It will initially start with three restaurants in Gurgaon for delivery, takeaway and dine-in, with more restaurants planned to be opened in the national capital region over the next few months.

“We are confident that Ekdum!, with its sharp and differentiated proposition will create a strong position for itself in the market,” chairman Shyam S. Bhartia said while speaking at the launch of the new brand.

Jubilant Foodworks has a network of 1,264 Domino’s Pizza restaurants across 281 cities and also has the exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza brand in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

The company also has exclusive rights for developing and operating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in India and has 26 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants across 8 cities in the country.

Burger King

Shares of Burger King, which have been sizzling in the bourses since its listing, witnessed a two-sided movement as it surged another 10 per cent on Thursday to an intra-day high of Rs 219.15. However, profit taking came in and the share settled at 179.35, a fall of almost 10 per cent over the previous close.

There was also good news in the IPO segment with investors making a beeline for the share sale of Mrs Bectors Food Specialities. The initial public offer (IPO) was subscribed198 times so far on the last day of subscription on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the issue was oversubscribed within a few hours of opening.

This is the second IPO after Burger King to have received such a good response. It received bids for 2,62,10,42,200 shares against 1,32,36,211 shares on offer, as per data available with the NSE. The offer comprises a fresh issue of Rs 40.54 crore and an offer-for-sale of up to Rs 500 crore. The price band for the share sale has been fixed at Rs 286-288 per share.

Brokerages like Angel Broking had asked investors to subscribe to the issue. “`We believe that there is a good possibility of listing gains given the lower valuations compared with other listed peers. Further, considering attractive valuation and strong future growth prospects in packaged biscuits we recommend a ‘subscribe’ rating to this IPO for the long term,” its analysts had said in a report.