Hyundai India shares fall 2% on market debut after record IPO

Hyundai Motor India’s shares fell 2% in their market debut on Tuesday, after a tepid response from retail investors to the country’s largest ever initial public offering.

The stock listed at 1,934 rupees ($23) on India’s National Stock Exchange, compared to its issue price of 1,960 rupees ($23.31), and was last trading down 2% at 1,920 rupees ($22.84) at 0431 GMT (12:31 a.m. ET).

Hyundai is India’s No. 2 carmaker with a 15% market share. Its record $3.3 billion IPO was oversubscribed more than two-fold last week, led largely by institutional investors, but pricing concerns deterred retail participation.

Tuesday’s listing in Mumbai is Hyundai Motor’s first such debut outside its home market of South Korea and comes at a time when India’s equity markets have risen sharply.

The two-biggest IPOs prior to Hyundai India – Life Insurance Corporation and Paytm parent One97 communications – both listed at a steep discount.

While Hyundai’s market valuation is much smaller than Indian market leader Maruti Suzuki’s $48 billion, analysts have expressed concerns over the narrower gap when valued by their price-to-earnings ratios.

The issue had valued Hyundai at 26 times its fiscal 2024 earnings, not far off the 29 times multiple for market leader Maruti.

Hyundai counts India as a crucial growth market where it has two manufacturing units and has invested $5 billion, with commitments to pump in another $4 billion over the next decade. The world’s biggest car market after China and the United States is the company’s third-biggest revenue generator globally.