NSE IPO: Most existing shareholders of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) have continued to hold a substantial part of their stakes even after selling shares through the offer-for-sale (OFS) portion of the exchange’s Rs 22,569-crore initial public offering (IPO).Of the 20 institutional investors that participated in the OFS, nine were foreign institutional investors. These investors collectively owned 15.96 per cent of NSE before the IPO.The other 11 participating institutions were domestic investors. This group included 10 public sector entities and ICICI Lombard General Insurance, with their combined holding standing at 20.86 per cent before the OFS.An analysis of the shareholding data showed that institutional investors accounted for most of the selling shareholders. Together, they owned a 36.82 per cent stake in NSE before the IPO and offered shares equivalent to a 5.11 per cent stake in the exchange through the OFS.Despite participating in the share sale, several of the larger institutional investors have made only limited reductions to their holdings.Aranda Investments, which had a 4.54 per cent stake before the OFS, Stock Holding Corporation of India, with 4.44 per cent, SBI Capital Markets, with 4.33 per cent, and ChrysCapital, which held 3.73 per cent, each cut their holdings by only around 7 per cent on average.Among the other major foreign investors, Crown Capital sold around 11 per cent of its stake held before the OFS, while TA Asia Pacific reduced its holding by approximately 6 per cent.The share-sale pattern suggests that the OFS has enabled existing investors to realise part of their investments while allowing them to retain substantial ownership in NSE.The IPO was fully subscribed on the second day of bidding on Friday, making it India’s second-largest public issue after Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 27,870-crore IPO in 2024. It has also overtaken the Rs 21,000-crore public offer of Life Insurance Corporation of India in 2022.Investor response to the issue has been strong, with non-institutional investors and qualified institutional buyers accounting for much of the subscription on the second day.The IPO consists of an OFS involving up to 12.64 crore equity shares held by existing shareholders. NSE has set the price band at Rs 1,700-1,785 per share, giving the exchange a valuation of as much as Rs 4.42 lakh crore at the upper end of the range.As the issue is entirely structured as an OFS, NSE itself will not receive any proceeds from the share sale. The money raised will instead go to the existing shareholders selling their shares.The OFS was initially proposed to cover 14.9 crore shares. This was later cut to 12.64 crore shares, reducing the overall issue size from the initial estimate of around Rs 30,000 crore.The IPO is scheduled to close on September 21, with NSE shares expected to be listed on September 24.