LSE EXPECTS AFTER ELECTION BUZZ

The London Stock Exchange, which did not witness a single Indian company getting listed on it in the year gone-by, is hoping to a number of domestic firms approaching it for capital raising this year from the second half, a senior exchange official said here today. "We expect some transactions to happen in the second half of the fiscal as clarity comes in on a lot of things including the general elections, the economic policies and the regulatory environment," LSE head of primary markets Alastair Walmsley told PTI. He said a follow-on public offer from an already-listed corporate may happen before the general elections as well. Walmsley, however, refused to give any target which the exchange, that hosts over 3,000 companies from 115 countries, is looking at. Last year was a bad one for the LSE, with not a single capital raising issue from India at any of the platforms including the main exchange, the Alternate Investment Market for smaller companies or on the depository receipts front. Some domestic corporates like Vedanta and Essar Energy, among others have already accessed the capital through the LSE. Walmsley said all these scrips continue to hold good investor interest as these stocks have good liquidity. Walmsley said New Delhi's move to allow domestically un-listed companies to list abroad will be a major push for the renewal in interest on LSE. Walmsley said he expected companies from the financial services, consumer businesses, renewable energy and infrastructure sectors to be among those who will have interest in listing at the exchange at present. According to the LSE, there is a good amount of interest to invest in Indian stocks and in all probabilities, it will continue for the next 6-12 months.