MUMBAI, June 16 (Reuters) - Power producer KSK Energy
Ventures Ltd. plans to raise a maximum of 12.98 billion rupees
through an initial public offering and a pre-IPO share placement.
The price band for the 34.611-million-share initial public
offer, that opens on June 23 and closes on June 25, has been set
at 240 rupees to 255 rupees per share, banking sources said.
Its promoter, London-listed KSK Power Ventures <KSK.L>, on
Friday said it issued 17.306 million shares to a clutch of
institutions including Macquarie Bank, Infrastructure Development
Finance Co <IDFC.BO>, Axis Bank <AXBK.BO> and GE Capital, at 240
rupees each, raising 4.15 billion rupees.
The share offer will be the largest since state-run lender
Rural Electrification Corp <RURL.BO> raised 16.4 billion rupees
in February.
A slide in the Indian stock market this year has led to a
fall in funds raised through initial public offers.
Excluding Reliance Power's <RPOL.BO> $3 billion offer in
January, Indian firms raised $763 million in IPOs till May 2008,
down 54 percent over the same period last year, Thomson Reuters
data showed.
KSK's public offer and pre-IPO placement, through a fresh
issue of shares, will constitute 15 percent of the post-issue
capital.
"The share placement has set a benchmark rate and has brought
in good quality investors," KSK Energy's Chief Financial Officer
Durga Shankar told Reuters over the telephone.
Lehman Brothers <LEH.N> already holds 33.4 percent in KSK
Energy.
KSK Energy will invest the proceeds in an 1,800 megawatt
thermal power plant it is developing in Chhattisgarh, at a cost
of 68.7 billion rupees and another 130 MW hydropower plant in
Arunachal Pradesh, at a cost of 6.9 billion rupees.
The company currently operates power projects with a capacity
of 144 MW and is constructing two more with a total capacity of
675 MW.
Kotak Mahindra Capital Co, IDFC-SSKI, Morgan Stanley India
and Edelweiss Capital are the book-running lead managers to the
issue.
(Reporting by Prashant Mehra; editing by Sunil Nair)
(([email protected]; +91 22 6636 9029; Reuters
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Keywords: KSK IPO/