Rs 1,500-cr BSE IPO on Jan 23

Asia's oldest bourse BSE will launch its much-awaited Rs 1,500 crore initial public offering (IPO) on January 23. The shares are expected to list on rival National Stock Exchange (NSE) on or around February 3. The IPO, which would open on January 23, closes on January 25, according to Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) filed by BSE with markets regulator Sebi. The public offer of BSE will see sale of 1.54 crore shares by the existing shareholders through the offer for sale (OFS) route. This works out to close to 30 per cent of the total holding. Among the existing shareholders are Bajaj Holdings Investment, Caldwell India Holdings, Acacia Banyan Partners, Singapore Exchange, Mauritius-based arms of American investor George Soros' Quantum Fund and foreign fund Atticus. Sources said, the shares could be offered at a price of as high as Rs 500 each, giving the IPO a size of up to Rs 1,500 crore. Even at the lower end of the band, the IPO should be worth about Rs 1,200-1,300 crore, they added. There are an estimated 9,000 shareholders in BSE, where originally mostly brokers held shares. However, a host of foreign investors and domestic financial institutions have acquired shares over the years and the IPO will provide some of them an exit opportunity to monetise their assets. BSE -- earlier known as the Bombay Stock Exchange -- got in-principle approval from Sebi last year for the IPO. Shares of nearly 3,000 companies trade on its platform. Capital market regulator Sebi, last month, gave its final go-ahead to BSE to launch its public issue. Rival NSE had filed draft papers with Sebi last month for an estimated Rs 10,000 crore IPO. The issue is being managed by Edelweiss Financial Services, Axis Capital, Jefferies India, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Pvt, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors, SBI Capital Markets and SMC Capitals. Nishith Desai Associates is the legal advisor to the IPO while Karvy Computershare is the registrar. Multi Commodity Exchange of India is the only listed bourse in the country.