Rubicon Research Limited had a successful start on the Indian stock exchanges on Thursday, October 16, as the shares were listed at a 27.9% premium to the issue price, reflecting strong investor excitement and robust fundamentals in the pharmaceutical sector.
On the BSE, shares of Rubicon Research opened at Rs. 620.10 per share, while on the NSE, it opened at Rs. 620, representing a gain of Rs. 135.10 or 27.86% against its issue price of Rs. 485.
The debut came as expected, given the positive trend in the grey market where the shares were trading at a premium of around Rs. 145, suggesting the opening price would be close to Rs. 630.
The IPO, valued at Rs. 1,377.5 crore, consists of a fresh issue of Rs. 500 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of Rs. 877.5 crore by the promoter General Atlantic Singapore RR Pte Ltd, and was oversubscribed in all categories.
Rubicon's IPO was subscribed 109 times overall, marking it as one of the strongest responses for a pharma issuance in 2025.
The QIBs portion led with 137.09 times, followed by NIIs at 102.7 times, and RIIs with 37.4 times.
Rubicon Research is a specialized company that focuses on pharmaceutical formulation and research to support regulated markets like the United States. Backed by private equity firm General Atlantic, the company’s portfolio includes complex generics and drug-device combination products.
In FY25, the company saw its revenue grow 49% YoY to Rs. 1,296 crore, while profit after tax (PAT) increased 48% to Rs. 134 crore. With an EBITDA margin of 20.7% and a PAT margin of 10.4%, Rubicon continues to demonstrate strong operational efficiency.
Key financial measures of return on equity (ROE) at 29%, and return on capital employed (ROCE) at 26.5% also demonstrate better capital utilization relative to peers.
The price at the upper end of the pricing range equates to a P/E multiple of about 46x, which analysts note is reasonable considering the company’s strong compliance history, robust research capabilities, and high-margin US operations.
Rubicon receives over 95% of its revenue from the US and has a total of 72 approved ANDA/NDA filings and 17 products pending FDA approval.
Rubicon intends to use Rs. 310 crore of the proceeds from the new issue to pay down debt and use the balance of the funds for strategic acquisitions and other corporate purposes. The company is also expanding into Australia, the UK, and the Middle East to enhance its market diversification outside the US.
Analysts believe that Rubicon's listing on the stock market was representative of good fundamentals, a scalable business model, and investor confidence in India's rapidly growing pharma exports market.
The stock's performance after its IPO will depend on continued earnings growth, research and development progress, and investor sentiment in the overall healthcare space.
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