Telecommunications tower operator Bharti Infratel Ltd's initial public offering for up to Rs 4500 crore, India's biggest IPO in two years, was fully covered on Thursday, boosting the outlook for new share sales.
The Bharti Infratel share sale adds to a busy week for equity offerings in Asia's third-largest economy, with more than Rs 10,000 crore worth of share deals appearing likely to be closed by Friday after a lacklustre first half of the year.
That strong demand could encourage companies to come to the equity markets early next year with the government at the forefront selling down stakes in state companies.
By 3.20 p.m., demand for Bharti Infratel shares was 1.2 times the number on offer, exchange data showed. Institutional investors had bid for 2.8 times the number of shares reserved for them. The issue closes on Friday.
Bharti Infratel, a unit of top Indian mobile phone carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd, and four of its private equity investors are selling a total 18.89 crore shares, or about 10 per cent of the company's equity.
The company has set an indicative price band of between 210 rupees and 240 rupees a share for the offering.
Bharti Infratel would be valued at around a 35 per cent discount to U.S. and Indonesian peers based on the EV/EBITDA valuation method, Nomura analysts wrote in a note this week.
India raised Rs 5,965 crore selling a stake in miner NMDC Ltd on Wednesday and Britain's BT Group Plc raised about Rs 1,014 crore by selling its stake in Indian IT services provider Tech Mahindra.
India's Credit Analysis and Research received bids for more than 40 times the number of shares on offer this week in a stock market debut to raise up to Rs 536.8 crore. Jewellery retailer PC Jeweller Ltd's offer of up to Rs 607.4 crore was covered nearly 7 times.
Indian companies raised Rs 65078.4 crore through issuing equity in this year to end November, compared to Rs 47181.8 crore in the same period last year, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Copyright @ Thomson Reuters 2012
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