Mumbai, Aug. 20: Vikram Akula, CEO and founder of SKS Microfinance, sold most of his stock to venture capital investors before the entity chose to list on the bourses.

Within days of a hugely successful listing, employees of the microfinance firm are selling the shares they received as stock options to take advantage of the sharp surge in prices.

SKS Microfinance made its debut on the bourses on Monday. It opened strong at Rs 1,036 per share, a gain of 5 per cent over the issue price of Rs 985 per share. Unlike many other instances where the rally fizzles out soon after listing, the SKS share has continued to surge.

On Friday, the scrip hit a new high of Rs 1,234.80 in intra-day trades and subsequently ended at Rs 1,211.48, or a gain of Rs 46.95, since its previous close. Since its listing on August 16, the share has gained over 11 per cent.

Since the stock listed, a host of SKS employees have sold their shares that they received under employee stock option plans. Disclosures made by the company show that several employees have earned rich dividends by selling their stock during a rally.

For example, B. Rajaiah, an assistant manager, sold 600 shares and made over Rs 6.71 lakh. Similarly, K. Nirmala sold 1,500 shares, yielding over Rs 17.38 lakh. There are other employees who have made much more. Incidentally, most of the employees have not sold all their shares.

A spokesperson for SKS Microfinance said that when the company was converted into a non-banking finance company from an NGO, the employees were given stock options which were priced at Rs 10 initially and at different prices later on.

In the case of employees who have been with the company for a long time, the listing has come as a great opportunity to cash out a part of their holdings.

The IPO of SKS was subscribed nearly 14 times with the qualified institutional investor portion being subscribed over 20 times and retail segment 2.8 times.