FPO - ECONOMY

News: Explained | What made the Adani Group call off its FPO?

 

What's in the news?

       Adani Enterprises decided on February 1 to call off its ₹20,000 crore follow-on public offer and return the money that it had collected from investors.

       The Adani Group has seen the stocks of its publicly listed companies crash steeply, causing its overall market capitalization to drop by ₹9.11 lakh crore.

 

Key takeaways:

       A report by U.S. firm Hindenburg Research on January 24 had accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.

       The Group has denied all allegations.

 

What is a follow-on public offer?

       An FPO is a process wherein a company that is already publicly listed in the stock market issues additional shares to investors.

       During an FPO, a company could decide to issue fresh shares to investors, or existing shareholders in the company could decide to sell their shares to other investors.

 

Types of FPO:

1. Dilutive FPO:

       This is the process where the company issues additional fresh shares to the public to raise capital.

       It results in increasing the company’s total outstanding shares, decreasing the Earnings Per Share (EPS).

2. Non-Dilutive FPO:

       A non-diluted FPO is when the company’s largest shareholders, such as the founders or board of directors, offer the shares they hold privately to the general public.

       Unlike a diluted IPO, this method does not increase or decrease the company’s number of shares.

 

Difference from IPO:

       An FPO is similar to an initial public offering (IPO), except that an IPO refers to the issuance or sale of shares by a company to investors when it taps into the public market for the very first time.

       Companies can float an FPO to raise equity capital for various reasons such as to pay off debt or to improve their capital structure.

       FPOs can also be a way for existing shareholders to sell their shares and exit the company.

 

Go back to basics:

IPO:

       In the primary market, an IPO is the sale of securities to the general public. New securities are issued for the first time on the primary market.

       It occurs when an unlisted firm, for the first time, issues new securities or makes an offer to sell existing securities to the public.

       Companies that are not listed on a stock exchange are known as unlisted companies.

       It is commonly utilized by small and medium-sized businesses seeking capital to build and expand their operations.