Cordelia Cruises IPO: Issue of Rs 585 crore, QIB also kept distance, GMP only Rs 4, what should investors do?

Business Desk – Cordelia Cruises IPO: Often, as soon as the IPO of a big and famous company comes in the stock market, there is a rush of investors, but this time the picture looks different. The Rs 585 crore Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Waterways Leisure Tourism Limited, which operates the Cordelia Cruises brand in India, has not attracted much investors for the second day.

From subscription figures to Gray Market Premium (GMP), every indication is pointing to caution at the moment. In such a situation, the question is arising that despite being the country’s largest domestic cruise operator company, why are investors keeping a distance?

Not getting strong signal from GMP

The initial enthusiasm for any issue in the IPO market is measured by the Gray Market Premium. The GMP of Waterways Leisure Tourism IPO is currently running at only Rs 4.

The company has fixed the upper price band of IPO at Rs 808 per share. In such a situation, based on the current GMP, the possible listing price is around Rs 812. That means investors are expected to get only around 0.5 percent listing gain. This is the reason why there is not much enthusiasm about this IPO even in the gray market.

Subscription figures also weaker than expected

Subscription was very weak on the first day of IPO. Only 20 percent applications were received against the total available 41.84 lakh shares.

Although Retail Investors showed good participation and their quota was filled up to 106 percent, but in the category of Non-Institutional Investors (NII) only 4 percent subscription was recorded. The biggest shock came from the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB) category, where not a single bid came in on the first day. There was not much change in the situation on the second day too. Till 11:50 am, only 35 percent of the IPO was subscribed.

Where will the money raised from IPO be used?

This IPO is a completely fresh issue. No Offer For Sale (OFS) has been included in this. The company will spend a major part of the money raised from the IPO to fulfill the leasing obligations of its Subsidiary Company Baycruise Shipping and Leasing (IFSC). This includes Security Deposit, Advance Lease Payment and other financial obligations.

Apart from this, the company is also working on the plan of its fleet expansion by purchasing new cruise ships in future. The remaining amount will be used for General Corporate Purposes.

India’s largest cruise operator company

Waterways Leisure Tourism is considered to be the country’s largest domestic ocean cruise operator. The company provides services under the Cordelia Cruises brand.

Its fleet currently includes a cruise ship named MV Empress, which has a capacity of more than 2,000 passengers. The company operates cruise services to Indian destinations like Mumbai, Goa, Kochi, Chennai, Lakshadweep, Visakhapatnam and Puducherry, apart from Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

According to the company’s Red Herring Prospectus (RHP), its share in India’s domestic ocean cruise market was about 79 percent in FY2025.

Big bet on expansion plan

The company is preparing to strengthen its fleet in the coming years. It is planned to include Norwegian Sky in FY27 and Norwegian Sun in FY28. Experts believe that if cruise tourism grows rapidly in India, then this expansion can prove to be a big growth driver for the company.

Financial performance showed strength

The operational revenue of the company in the financial year 2026 was Rs 579.7 crore. Whereas Net Profit was recorded at Rs 52.1 crore. The net worth of the company also increased from Rs 32.8 crore to Rs 80.2 crore in a year. These figures indicate that the company is benefiting from the increasing demand in the cruise tourism sector.

What is the opinion of brokerage houses?

Swastika Investmart has given the IPO a “Neutral” rating. The brokerage believes that the company’s strong position in the cruise tourism industry and government’s initiatives like Cruise Bharat Mission can create growth opportunities in the future. However, the entire business of the company is currently dependent on a single ship, which is considered a big risk. Apart from this, Cruise Industry is a capital intensive business, where huge investment is required for expansion.

JM Financial believes that the Asset-Light Expansion Strategy and the plan to increase Passenger Capacity can give strong growth to the company in the coming years.

What signals for investors?

Waterways Leisure Tourism IPO is currently included among those IPOs where Company Fundamentals appear strong, but Gray Market and Institutional Demand appear relatively weak. In such a situation, the eyes of investors are now fixed on the final figures of Subscription and Listing Day Performance.