India’s Reliance Power IPO oversubscribed 73 times

 

 

The initial public offering (IPO) made financial history in Indian capital markets, including the largest number of applications, bankers said.

Investors submitted bids worth $191 billion (Dh697 billion), more than triple the previous record of $51.96 billion (Dh189.7 billion) bid for an offering of Mundra Port, India's largest private sector port last November, bankers to the issue said.

Reliance Power, owned by Indian tycoon Anil Ambani (pictured above), offered 260 million shares, or 10.1 per cent of its capital, amid forecasts the energy demands of India's fast-growing economy could create a booming business.

The IPO received 4.7 million applications, beating the previous record of 1.95 million from an offering by Reliance Petroleum in 2006, promoted by Anil's elder brother Mukesh.

The Reliance Power IPO was oversubscribed 73.04 times at 1730 GMT Friday at the end of the four-day subscription period, according to data on the National Stock Exchange web site.

"The massive demand clearly indicates faith people have in the Ambani name," a capital markets chief at a Mumbai-based brokerage said.

The Ambani siblings are among India's richest businessmen and sons of the late Dhirubhai Ambani, the rags-to-riches founder of a corporate empire.

The IPO was fully subscribed just 60 seconds after it opened Tuesday.

The company aims to raise between $2.6 billion to 2.9 billion (Dh9.49 to Dh10.59 billion). The shares were priced at INR405 (Indian rupees) to INR450 with retail investors to be given a discount of 20 rupees a share.

India's previous biggest IPO was by property giant DLF which raised $2.24 billion (Dh8.18 billion) last July.

Reliance Energy emerged from a split two years ago in the energy-to-telecoms Reliance behemoth sparked by a family feud.

Anil Ambani took control of the telecommunications, power and finance activities while Mukesh Ambani retained the petrochemical and oil businesses.

The company is a unit of Reliance Energy, which has said the money raised will fund the development of power projects. Reliance Power is developing 13 medium and large power projects with a combined planned capacity of 28,200 megawatts.

Reliance Power aims to list on the stock exchange in early February.

"It's reasonable to assume gains on listing, but future price performance will depend on project executions," said Anurag Purohit, analyst at brokerage Religare Research. (AFP)