New issues

New Delhi, Jan. 3: New Delhi-based real estate giant DLF today filed a fresh prospectus with market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise in excess of Rs 10,500 crore from its much awaited initial public offering (IPO).

“DLF Limited proposes to enter the capital market with a public issue of 17.5 crore equity shares of Rs 2 each through 100 per cent book building process,” the company said in a statement.

The issue of shares will comprise 10.2 per cent of its equity capital. A leading player in residential, commercial and retail properties business, the KP Singh-owned company had filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with Sebi last year.

The company, however, withdrew its prospectus citing changes in business plans. Also, minority shareholders had filed a complaint, with Sebi alleging they did not receive the letter of offer of the debentures issued by the company in December 2005.

However, in November the company resolved the differences, which paved the way for the revival of its IPO plan.

The financial details in the prospectus needed to be updated due to the lapse of about four months since the filing, said the company.

In its statement last year, DLF said “given the significant nature of positive developments since the filing of DRHP, the company, on the advice of its investment bankers, felt it imperative to update the prospectus with the new financials”.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and DSP Merrill Lynch are the global coordinators and managers for the issue. Citigroup Capital Markets India, ICICI Securities, Lehman Brothers Securities, UBS Securities and Deutsche Equities India are the book running lead managers. SBI Capital Market is the co-book running lead manager for the issue.

Robust equity markets and a hunger for growth have led many companies to tap the capital markets. Some of the large IPOs include Reliance Petroleum, Parsvnath Developers, Lanco Infratech, Cairn India and GMR Infrastructure. Other large equity offerings include NTPC and ONGC.

DLF believes that a smaller sale may attract investors who last year bought $58.4 billion of stocks and bonds sold by Indian companies.