JG Chemicals shares slide 13% on listing day; investors lose around ₹146 crore

Shares of JG Chemicals slid more than 13% on the listing day on Wednesday due to heavy selling pressure and sharp losses in the broader market.

The leading zinc oxide maker made a poor debut on the stock exchanges, listing at a discount of 5.43% on the NSE against the issue price of ₹221 per share.

After opening weak at ₹209 per share, the stock fell further to hit a low of ₹181.30 per share on NSE, reflecting a loss of 13.2% from the listing price and a sharper 17% plunge from the IPO price.

The stock moved in a range of ₹213.75 per share to ₹181.30 per share in intraday trade. Shares of JG Chemical closed at 183.70, down 12.11%.

On BSE, the stock closed at 184.65, reflecting a decline of 12.49%, compared to the opening price of ₹211 apiece.

At the issue price of ₹221 per share, the company was valued at around ₹866 crore.

The market capitalisation of the company dropped to ₹719.8 crore on NSE, showing investor losses of around ₹146 crore from the issue price.

Broader markets were also trading weak with the NSE benchmark index NIFTY50 trading lower by 1.19%. Nifty midcap and smallcap indices were also trading lower by more than 3% amid high valuation concerns.

The ₹252-crore initial public offering of the Kolkata-based zinc oxide major was subscribed a little over 27 times, riding on strong demand from qualified institutional buyers (QIB) and retail individual investors (RII). While the QIB portion was subscribed 32.09 times, the RII category received an oversubscription of 17.44 times.

JG Chemicals, promoted by Suresh Jhunjhunwala, Anirudh Jhunjhunwala and Anuj Jhunjhunwala, is one of the major producers of zinc oxide in India and it enjoys nearly 30% market share in the industry.