By Nesil Staney
A major resurgence in block deals in May has boosted the market sentiment for IPOs and qualified institutional placements (QIP), and volumes are expected to stay high, said three equity capital market (ECM) bankers and two institutional brokers.
In the BSE 200 universe, 28 bulk and block deals were executed in May, compared with just 7 in April, according to data from Trendlyne, a market tracker. In the broader market, 274 bulk and block deals happened in NSE 500, compared to 128 in April.
“The expiry date of lock-in periods in several recently-listed companies will result in more block deals as some early investors exit,” said Mahavir Lunawat, founder of Pantomath Financial.
In 2024, ECM deal volumes hit a record $70 billion, from merely $20 billion in 2022.
“Confidence from block deals clearly influenced the IPO launches in May and June. Bulk deals are also indicators of liquidity and the sentiment,” said Rishabh Jain, an investment banker at Monarch Networth, the sole advisor to the Skoda Tubes public issue in May.
Mainboard issuances in May included Brookfield’s Schloss Bangalore (Rs 3,500 crore), Aegis Vopak Terminals (Rs 2,800 crore) and Belrise Industries (Rs 2,150 crore), which listed at 11% premium. Large IPOs expected in June include NSDL (Rs 3,000 crore) and Travel Food Services (Rs 2,000 crore). NSDL is now priced at Rs 1,265 in the grey market with market capitalisation of Rs 25,300 crore.
Global tailwinds are also contributing to the rebound in ECM transactions in May.
“The pipeline of companies waiting to go public is huge. You need markets to be supportive, that is not dependent only on what is going on in India,” said Sudarshan Ramakrishnan, co-head of investment banking at Goldman Sachs India, in a report.
FIIs were net buyers for the third consecutive month in May, investing $1.7 billion. The Nifty-50 gained 4% so far in 2025.
Institutional investors purchased ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Mahindra and Mahindra and Coforge in seven bulk deals in April from the BSE 200 universe. French investor BNP Paribas Financial Markets alone executed 10 bulk deals in May. These include seven deals from BSE 200 in Eternal, FSN E-commerce, Coromandel and a block purchase of InterGlobe Aviation from Morgan Stanley Asia. BNP’s Eternal deal on May 30 was worth Rs 1,487 crore.
On May 28, British American Tobacco sold nearly Rs 13,000-crore shares in ITC in the largest bulk deal in 2025. Alibaba Group’s stake sale in PayTM (Rs 2,066 crore) in May was also notable.
BNP also bought Suraksha Diagnostic, Shalibhadra Finance and Remsons Industries in bulk deals outside BSE 200 in May. Between January and April, it executed six deals.
Ashutosh Tiwari, who heads institutional broking business at Equiris Capital, an investment bank, brokerage and wealth manager, said the resurgence in block deals will continue this year.
This optimism was shared by Sandip Raichuria, CEO of broking at Prabhudas Lilladher. “ECM deals are bound to rise further this year.”