In the first half of 2007, initial public offerings (IPOs) skyrocketed in India, with companies making US$12.83 billion in stock offerings and follow-on share issues, just short of the US$14.84 billion for all of 2006.
Global investors keen for exposure to the country’s fast growing economy snapped up the offers.
In early June, India’s top real-estate firm DLF raised US$2.24 billion through its initial share sale. White & Case advised DLF on the sale while Linklaters advised the underwriters.
Also in June, India’s largest private financial institution, ICICI Bank, made the country’s biggest share offering to date, a US$5 billion follow-on offering.
The company already has shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Bombay and National bourses in India. The law firms Davis Polk & Wardwell; Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co; Latham & Watkins; and Khaitan & Co advised on those listings.
The bank will use the money from the latest share offering to expand international and rural banking and offer more loans to consumers. It also hopes to play a larger role in financing M&A deals for Indian companies looking abroad.
The fund portion of the ICICI offering was oversubscribed 21 times but retail demand was poor, with that portion oversubscribed just once.
Goldman Sachs, DSP Merrill Lynch and JM Financial Consultants are the lead managers to the ICICI issue.
The sale was the biggest-ever for an Indian company, beating the record US$2.3 billion raised by state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp in 2004.
