Hyundai India's Rs 20,000 Crore IPO Gets SEBI Nod, Listing Likely In October

Hyundai Motor India Pvt. Ltd. now has the approval to launch what can potentially be the largest initial public offering in the country's history. The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, has approved the $3-billion (about Rs 20,000 crore) pure offer-for-sale by Hyundai Motor Co., according to people familiar with the matter. An IPO is likely as early as October.

A spokesperson for Hyundai India refused to comment on the likely IPO approval, citing a silent period.

On offer in the Hyundai India IPO are 14.2 crore shares, equivalent to 17.5% stake, of face value Rs 10 each, according to the draft red-herring prospectus filed with the markets regulator in June this year. The South Korean carmaker will not issue new shares in the IPO.

A Hyundai India IPO would make the South Korean automaker the first carmaker to list in India since Maruti Udyog Ltd. in 2003. A successful listing will also peg Hyundai India’s market capitalisation at half of its parent’s $47-billion valuation in Seoul.

Hyundai, which entered the subcontinent with its best-selling Santro in 1998, is the second-largest carmaker today with 15% market share. It’s the only foreign player surviving in a hyper-competitive market, dominated by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. American carmakers Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. bowed out after years of attempting to carve out a piece of the world’s third-largest auto market.

Nearly one in four Hyundai cars are sold in India now. The company has been consistently clocking 60,000 units per month for some time now, except the last few months as the entire industry is in a bit of a funk.