Elevate Campuses opens Rs 2,100 crore IPO with Rs 343-362 band

The Development

Elevate Campuses Limited opened its initial public offering for subscription on 23 September 2026, with the three-day book-building window scheduled to close on 25 September 2026, per data published by the National Stock Exchange. The Mumbai-based student-accommodation company has fixed a price band of Rs 343 to Rs 362 per share for an entirely fresh issue of equity aggregating to Rs 2,100 crore, making it one of the larger mainboard offers currently in the market.

Ahead of the public window, the company completed its anchor-investor book. Per the anchor allocation disclosed to the exchanges, Elevate Campuses raised Rs 945 crore from anchor investors on 22 September 2026, a set that The Economic Times reported included the SBI Mutual Fund and Norway's Norges Bank among roughly 20 institutions. Anchor allotment is completed a day before the issue opens to the wider market.

As of the first day of bidding, the issue had drawn early demand, with NSE data showing the offer subscribed a small fraction of its size across categories in the opening hours. The shares are proposed to list on both the BSE and the NSE, with a tentative listing date of 30 September 2026.

The Company

Elevate Campuses, incorporated in 2005, describes itself in the offer document as an education-infrastructure business that owns, operates and manages on-campus student accommodation for higher-education institutions, alongside K-12 school assets. It operates under the Good Host Spaces and ScholarZ brands. Per the offer document, as of 31 March 2026 the company managed accommodation for 80,255 students across 15 Indian cities and one city in the UAE, spanning both owned and managed bed inventory.

The company discloses a sharp improvement in its reported financials. Total income rose to Rs 603.39 crore in the financial year ended 31 March 2026, from Rs 394.13 crore a year earlier and Rs 362.61 crore in FY2024. Profit after tax climbed to Rs 173.76 crore in FY2026, against Rs 49.74 crore in FY2025 and Rs 39.69 crore in FY2024, per the financial statements in the offer document. The company reports EBITDA of Rs 545 crore for FY2026 and an occupancy rate of 89.37% for the 2025-26 academic year.

The offer document also discloses a materially leveraged balance sheet: total borrowings of Rs 4,120.53 crore as of 31 March 2026 against net worth of Rs 956.29 crore. The promoters are Genius Bidco Holdings Pte. Ltd. and Genius Rajkot Investment Holdings Pte. Ltd., who together held the entire pre-issue capital.

The Offer Structure

The issue is structured wholly as a fresh issue of shares aggregating to Rs 2,100 crore, with no offer-for-sale component; consequently, no existing shareholder is selling down and the entire proceeds accrue to the company. At the upper end of the Rs 343 to Rs 362 band, the offer comprises about 5.8 crore shares. The lot size is 41 shares, translating to a minimum application of Rs 14,842 at the upper price band, per the exchange record.

Per the offer document, the company intends to deploy the net proceeds towards three stated objects: about Rs 1,100 crore for funding a K-12 school acquisition, Rs 750 crore towards repayment or prepayment of borrowings, and Rs 250 crore for inorganic growth and general corporate purposes. The book-running lead managers to the issue are JM Financial, IIFL Capital Services and Morgan Stanley India, with KFin Technologies as the registrar.

Readers working through the arithmetic of an allotment or a holding period can use Oquilia's lumpsum calculator and CAGR calculator; prior primary-market coverage is on the Oquilia news desk.

Risk Factors

The RHP sets out the company's risk factors in full, and several material disclosures stand out from the offer document. The most prominent is leverage: the company discloses total borrowings of Rs 4,120.53 crore as of 31 March 2026, and it has earmarked Rs 750 crore of the fresh proceeds for repaying or prepaying debt, an indication of the interest and repayment obligations the business carries.

A second disclosure concerns the use of proceeds. About Rs 1,100 crore, more than half the issue, is allocated to funding a K-12 school acquisition, so the expected benefits depend on completing and integrating that acquisition, an execution risk inherent in an inorganic-growth object.

The offer document also frames a business dependent on sustained occupancy and on relationships with educational institutions; the reported 89.37% occupancy for 2025-26 underlines that revenue is tied to filling beds across a concentrated set of 15 cities and one overseas market. The company's complete risk-factors section is set out in the RHP available on SEBI's website and the exchanges.

What Happens Next

With the anchor book completed and the three-day subscription window now open, bidding runs through 25 September 2026. Applications are made through the ASBA and UPI mandate mechanisms via banks and brokers, with amounts blocked rather than debited until allotment. The exchanges publish category-wise subscription figures for qualified institutional buyers, non-institutional investors and retail investors through the window.

After the issue closes, the basis of allotment is expected to be finalised on 28 September 2026, per the tentative schedule, after which shares are credited to successful applicants and blocked funds are released for unsuccessful ones. The stock is then scheduled to list on the BSE and the NSE on 30 September 2026. These dates are indicative, set by the offer document and the exchanges, and describe process rather than any expectation of demand or price.

FAQ

What is the price band and lot size?

The price band is Rs 343 to Rs 362 per share and the lot size is 41 shares, per the exchange record. A single lot at the upper band works out to a minimum application of Rs 14,842, with retail applications made in multiples of that lot.

When does the issue open and close?

The issue opened on 23 September 2026 and closes on 25 September 2026, per NSE data. The basis of allotment is expected on 28 September 2026, with a tentative listing on the BSE and NSE on 30 September 2026.

What are the objects of the issue?

Per the offer document, the Rs 2,100 crore fresh issue is intended to fund a K-12 school acquisition (about Rs 1,100 crore), repay or prepay borrowings (Rs 750 crore) and support inorganic growth and general corporate purposes (Rs 250 crore).

How is the basis of allotment decided?

For a book-built issue, shares are allotted category-wise against the portions reserved for qualified institutional buyers, non-institutional investors and retail investors. Where a category is oversubscribed, retail allotment is typically decided by a lottery for the minimum lot and finalised by the registrar.

Where can I read the RHP?

The red herring prospectus, including the complete risk-factors and financial-statements sections, is available on SEBI's website and on the BSE and NSE public-issue pages.

Should I apply for this IPO?

Oquilia does not make recommendations. This report is informational and is not investment advice or a recommendation to subscribe. The RHP, including the complete risk-factors section, is available on SEBI's website and the exchanges - read it directly before making any decision.

This report is based on the price band and issue data published by the NSE and the company's offer document filed with SEBI. It was surfaced via coverage in The Economic Times.