Skyways Air Services IPO Pays Sellers as Shares List Weak

Four selling shareholders took Rs 184 crore at Rs 138 in the Skyways Air Services IPO on Tuesday, the same day the stock opened at Rs 124 on the NSE. That print was a 10.14 percent discount to the issue price, and it left the 71.25 times book looking like a funding event, not a bid that could hold the offer.

The Rs 582.80 crore issue mixed a fresh sale of 2,88,98,300 shares worth Rs 398.80 crore with an offer for sale of 1,33,33,300 shares. The company gets the fresh money. The four sellers already have theirs.

The Tape Never Matched the Grey Market

On the NSE the stock opened at Rs 124, traded as low as Rs 119, and still managed a high of Rs 136.45, just Rs 1.55 short of the issue. It closed at Rs 125.56, down 9.01 percent from Rs 138. BSE was a shade firmer at the open, at Rs 124.50, and finished at Rs 125.65.

Grey-market quotes into the listing had been Rs 32, or 23 percent over the cap, which implied Rs 170. The NSE open sat Rs 46, or 27 percent, below that unofficial number. Shivani Nyati, head of wealth at Swastika Investmart, said the shares listed well below what the grey market had suggested.

Unofficial premia had already been sliding, from about Rs 50 in the days before bidding closed toward Rs 32 by listing morning. Even that lower quote overstated cash demand at the open. Wednesday trade lifted the stock off Tuesday’s close, but the first print is the one the offer priced against.

LISTING DAY PRINTS VERSUS RS 138

At Tuesday’s NSE close the post-issue company was worth Rs 1,824.93 crore. At Rs 138 it would have been Rs 2,005.74 crore, or 31.6 times FY26 profit of Rs 63.52 crore. Ticker SKYWAYS, BSE code 544890, face value Rs 10.

Rs 184 Crore Went to Four Selling Shareholders

The offer for sale was 31.6 percent of the issue by value. Promoters Yashpal Sharma and Tarun Sharma sold 71,20,690 and 24,60,000 shares and took Rs 132.22 crore together. Himanshu Chhabra and Rohit Sehgal, listed as other selling shareholders, sold 18,66,000 and 18,86,610 shares and took Rs 51.79 crore. The company receives none of that cash.

WHO SOLD IN THE OFFER FOR SALE

Pre-issue promoter holding was 79.14 percent on 11,64,45,244 shares. After the fresh issue of 2,88,98,300 shares, post-issue equity is 14,53,43,544 shares and the promoters are at 56.82 percent. They still control the company. They also banked Rs 132.22 crore at a price the market would not hold for a full session.

Yashpal Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director, has run the Skyways Group founded in 1984 by his father and has been with the firm since 1995. The listing was his first public mark on that stake. It was also a cash-out for two non-promoter holders who had been on the register before the float.

Why 71 Times Oversubscription Did Not Hold Rs 138

Bidding ran from 24 August to 27 August. By the close, NSE data showed bids for 2,10,79,10,700 shares against 2,95,83,600 on offer in the public book, or 71.25 times, across 34,34,228 applications. Qualified institutional buyers (excluding anchors) bid 139.69 times. Non-institutional buyers bid 87.24 times. Retail bid 25.40 times.

THE BOOK THAT DID NOT FOLLOW THROUGH

• QIB (ex-anchor): 139.69 times on 84,32,000 shares, with bids for 1,17,78,54,000 shares.
• Non-institutional: 87.24 times on 63,51,600 shares, including 91.33 times in the big-lot slice and 79.04 times in the small-lot slice.
• Retail: 25.40 times on 1,48,00,000 shares, so most applicants got nothing and the ones who did paid Rs 138 for a close at Rs 125.56.
• Grey-market quote: Rs 32 into listing, after a slide from about Rs 50, still pointing at Rs 170 that never printed.

A 139 times institutional book that cannot support the open is what a leveraged IPO funding book looks like, not a queue of cash buyers of the stock. The same day’s other mainboard debuts also failed to deliver the premia their unofficial markets had advertised, which is why skip calls made on the financials, rather than on the times-subscribed headline, aged better than the grey-market tape.

Retail’s minimum cheque was Rs 13,800 for 100 shares. One lot marked Rs 1,400 below issue at the NSE open and Rs 1,244 below at the close. The applicants who were not allotted were the ones who avoided that gap.

Two Percent Net Margins on Rs 2,813 Crore of Sales

Skyways Air Services is a Delhi freight forwarder that began as a customs house agent and now sells air and ocean forwarding, trucking, warehousing, customs broking and express cargo. World ACD has ranked it No. 1 in India by airway bills generated for calendar years 2022 through 2025. Air freight still does most of the work.

FY26 REVENUE MIX

• Air freight: Rs 2,166.40 crore, or 77.02 percent of operating revenue.
• Ocean freight: Rs 422.60 crore, or 15.02 percent.
• Express cargo and parcel: Rs 162.78 crore, or 5.79 percent.
• Trucking, warehousing and other: the remaining slice, each under 1.4 percent.

Operating revenue was Rs 2,812.90 crore in FY26, up 25.14 percent from Rs 2,247.82 crore in FY25, after a 74.37 percent jump from Rs 1,289.11 crore in FY24. Profit after tax rose to Rs 63.52 crore from Rs 48.14 crore and Rs 34.49 crore, a 32 percent gain in the latest year. EBITDA was Rs 125.65 crore, with a 4.47 percent margin. The PAT margin was 2.26 percent.

Those restated figures in the abridged prospectus also show net worth of Rs 332.64 crore, borrowings of Rs 624.06 crore, and operating cash flow of Rs 113.62 crore after Rs 2.01 crore in FY25 and an outflow of Rs 9.04 crore in FY24. Return on net worth compressed to 12.33 percent from 15.85 percent and 20.26 percent. Top five customers were 14.04 percent of FY26 revenue. About 11.29 percent of revenue came in foreign currency.

Borrowings had already climbed from Rs 357.34 crore in FY24 to Rs 558.43 crore in FY25. A CARE Ratings note in April tied that rise to working capital, acquisitions and capex, including the FY25 purchase of 51 percent of Odyssey Logistics and CTC Air Carriers. A 2.26 percent margin on a debt-funded growth spurt is a hard number to float at 31.6 times earnings when the buyer is the public book.

The group had 1,193 employees as of 31 March 2026. Airline partners named in offer materials include Saudi Cargo, Air India Cargo, Emirates and Lufthansa. Sharma said no single airline is more than 12 to 15 percent of the business, and that a Qatar Airways renewal is agreed in substance but still unsigned after delays he linked to the war in West Asia.

Anchor Funds Stay Locked Into Late September

On 21 August the company allotted 1,26,48,000 shares to 17 anchor investors at Rs 138, raising Rs 174.54 crore. Domestic mutual funds took 50,50,000 of those shares, worth Rs 69.69 crore, through Bank of India and Taurus schemes. Other names in the book included Nomura Singapore, Citi Group Global Markets Mauritius, IndusInd General Insurance and Holani Venture Capital Fund-I.

Holani Venture Capital Fund-I received 10,40,600 shares, or Rs 14.36 crore, making it the fourth-largest anchor. Holani Consultants Private Limited was a book-running lead manager, with Shannon Advisors and Dolat Finserv. The two Holani entities are separate, and the allocation is disclosed. It still leaves a lead manager’s related fund marked at the same Rs 138 the public could not hold.

SEBI rules lock 50 percent of anchor shares for 30 days from allotment and the rest for 90 days. Allotment was finalised on 28 August, so the first release falls in late September and the second in late November. Those funds could not sell into Tuesday’s open, and they could not use the Rs 136.45 high as a full exit. They sit on a mark against Rs 138 until the lock lifts.

Bigshare Services was the registrar. The lot was 100 shares, with a retail cap of 1,400 shares, or Rs 1,93,200.

The Fresh Issue Pays Lenders First

Of the Rs 398.80 crore fresh issue, the company has earmarked Rs 216.79 crore to repay or prepay loans at Skyways and at subsidiary Forin Container Line, and Rs 130 crore for extra working capital, with the balance for general corporate uses. Sharma told investors the debt cut should save Rs 16 to 18 crore of interest a year and pull gross debt from about Rs 620 crore toward Rs 400 crore. On the FY26 restated books, Rs 624.06 crore minus Rs 216.79 crore leaves about Rs 407 crore.

WHERE THE FRESH MONEY IS MEANT TO GO

• Debt paydown: Rs 216.79 crore at the company and Forin Container Line, including bank lines used for a UK acquisition and a Mahipalpur office.
• Working capital: Rs 130 crore, against a working-capital gap the offer papers put at Rs 311.07 crore as of 31 March 2026.
• General corporate purposes: the residual after those two items and issue costs, which the company, not the OFS sellers, bears on the fresh slice.

Lenders get cash. The firm gets a lighter interest line if the prepayments go through on schedule. Public holders get a stock that opened 10.14 percent below the price that funded both outcomes. Sharma also put contingent liabilities at about Rs 300 crore, close to net worth, and said Rs 280 crore of that is collateral for subsidiary credit lines, with about Rs 400 crore of cash on the group.

All the agreements are now finalised, and it’s just the signing which is left, which should happen very soon.

Yashpal Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director, on the Qatar Airways contract

He said Skyways will keep pushing volumes and EBITDA and hopes to repeat the last few years of growth. The last few years also produced the Rs 624.06 crore of borrowings the IPO is now paying down. Half the anchor book remains locked until late September, and the rest until late November, against a first close of Rs 125.56.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of a completed share listing and is for information only. It is not investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell Skyways Air Services shares, or a solicitation to participate in any public offer. Readers should consult a SEBI-registered investment adviser or a qualified financial planner before acting on any IPO or listed-stock decision. Figures, subscription data, grey-market quotes and trading prices reflect the sources as of 2 September 2026 and can change with later sessions, filings and corporate actions.