BCCL garners Rs 273 crore from anchor investors ahead of IPO

New Delhi: Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), an arm of Coal India, on Thursday said it has mobilised over Rs 273 crore from anchor investors, a day before the opening of its initial public offering (IPO).

Major anchor investors include Life Insurance Corporation of India, Bandhan Mutual Fund, Nippon India Mutual Fund and UTI Mutual Fund, according to a circular uploaded on the BSE's website.

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Additionally, foreign funds like Citrine Fund, Copthall Mauritius, Societe Generale ODI and Maybank Securities were also allotted shares, the circular showed.

Bharat Coking Coal has allocated 118,753,500 equity shares to anchor investors for Rs 23 per share. This aggregates the fundraising to Rs 273.13 crore.

The company's Rs 1,071-crore initial public offering (IPO) will open on January 9, marking the first public issue of 2026. The issue will close on January 13.

The price band has been fixed at Rs 21 to Rs 23 per share, and at the higher end, the company is valued at over Rs 10,700 crore.

According to the red herring prospectus (RHP), the maiden public issue is entirely an offer for sale (OFS) of 46.57 crore equity shares by Coal India.

The listing of BCCL is part of the government's broader divestment push in the coal sector, aimed at unlocking value in Coal India's subsidiaries and enhancing transparency through market discipline.

In its prospectus, the company stated that the IPO will help achieve the benefits of listing.

BCCL will make its stock market debut on January 16. The company said that half of the issue size has been reserved for qualified institutional buyers, 35 percent for retail investors and the remaining 15 percent for non-institutional investors.

Last year, Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd (CMPDIL), another wholly-owned arm of Coal India, had also filed its draft papers with Sebi for an IPO via the OFS route.

While BCCL is a coal-producing entity, CMPDIL serves as Coal India's technical and planning arm.

Bharat Coking Coal was the largest coking coal producer in India in fiscal 2025, according to a Crisil report. It produces various grades of coking coal, non-coking coal and washed coals for applications primarily in the steel and power industries.

The company was incorporated in 1972 to mine and supply coking coal concentrated in mines located at Jharia, Jharkhand and Raniganj, West Bengal coalfields.

The public sector firm has expanded operations significantly over the years, with coal production increasing from 30.51 million tonnes in fiscal 2022 to 40.50 million tonnes in fiscal 2025, which is an increase of 33 percent. Its coal production stood at 15.75 million tonnes in the six months ended September 30, 2025, as compared to 19.09 million tonnes in the year-ago period.

The company operates a network of 34 operational mines, including 4 underground mines, 26 opencast mines, and 4 mixed mines as of September 30, 2025.

On the financial front, Bharat Coking Coal's revenues from operations stood at Rs 13,802 crore and profit of Rs 1,204 crore in FY25.

BCCL's issue comes against the backdrop of a blockbuster year for the primary market.

In 2025, companies raised a record nearly Rs 1.76 lakh crore through IPOs, buoyed by strong domestic liquidity, resilient investor sentiment and a supportive macroeconomic environment. This surpassed the Rs 1.6 lakh crore mobilised by 90 firms in 2024 and the Rs 49,436 crore raised by 57 companies in 2023.

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