Primary Market Action: Smartworks IPO Subscribed 13.19x by Day 3; Anthem Biosciences Warms Up to 60% Bids on Day 1

The primary market is stirring back to life with a flurry of public offers this week, led by two mainboard IPOs—Smartworks Coworking Spaces and Anthem Biosciences.

By 4 pm, Smartworks Coworking had garnered solid interest by the third day of its subscription window. The public issue was subscribed 13.19 times overall, driven largely by qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), who were late to warm up but quick to outbid other categories. The portion reserved for QIBs was subscribed over 24 times.

Non-institutional investors (NIIs) hovered close, with subscription of over 22 times, whereas retail investor interest remained tepid, as their allocated share was subscribed just a little over 3 times.

In the grey market, shares of Smartworks were trading at a premium of ₹20 over the upper end of its IPO price band of ₹407, suggesting modest listing gains of around 5%. The ₹582.56 crore issue is priced in the range of ₹387–₹407 per share and will close on July 14. Allotments are expected on July 15, with the listing scheduled for July 17.

Meanwhile, Anthem Biosciences opened its public offer today, witnessing a quieter start. As of 4 pm, the IPO was subscribed 60%, with NIIs again taking the early lead, bidding for 1.13 times of their allocated portion. Retail participation stood at 50%, while QIB interest was slowing coming up to 36%.

Unlike Smartworks, the Anthem Biosciences IPO is a pure offer-for-sale (OFS) worth ₹3,395 crore, comprising shares offloaded by promoters and existing investors. As a result, none of the proceeds from the IPO will go to the company itself.

Meanwhile, grey market trends suggest the shares of Anthem garnering a premium of Rs 101, reflecting potential listing gains of around 18%. Anthem Biosciences is offering shares at a price band of Rs 540-570 in its IPO.