Bharti Hexacom Set To Debut After India's Biggest IPO In A Year

(Bloomberg) -- Telecom service provider Bharti Hexacom Ltd. is set to start trading in Mumbai after an initial public offering that raised 42.75 billion rupees ($514 million) to become India’s largest in about a year. 

Shareholder Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. sold 75 million shares in the company at 570 rupees apiece last week, the top of a marketed range. The offering drew bids for more than 30 times the number of shares on offer. Trading begins at around 10 a.m. local time on Friday. 

Bharti Hexacon’s IPO is the country’s largest since Mankind Pharma Ltd. raised 43.3 billion rupees a year ago. A strong start could help open a window for more large deals in India, dubbed by bankers as one of the hottest spots for first-time share sales in Asia this year.

“Bharti Hexacom is well-positioned to capitalize on the evolving market trends and consumer preferences,” said Rajan Shinde, Mumbai-based analyst at Mehta Equities Ltd.

The offering may further boost activity in the equities market that has mainly been hosting IPOs smaller than $100 million in size over the past year. Those share sales drew a strong response from retail investors and surged after listing, drawing scrutiny by regulators concerned about market froth.  

In the past 12 months through Wednesday, only two offerings in India raised more than $500 million. 

Companies that went public in India over the past five years after IPOs larger than $500 million rose 7.5% on average on their first trading day, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. That compares with a 32% increase for similar listings in Asia Pacific over the same period.  

Bharti Hexacom, a unit of Bharti Airtel Ltd., provides fixed-line telephone and broadband services in two circles in India that make up about 7% of industry customers, according to the prospectus. 

SBI Capital Markets, Axis Capital, BOB Capital Markets, ICICI Securities and IIFL Securities are the lead managers to the sale.

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