NSE files IPO papers with Sebi, will try to raise Rs 10,000 crore

Leading bourse NSE on Wednesday filed draft papers with market regulator Sebi for its much-awaited IPO, expected to be one of the biggest in recent times with an estimated size of over Rs 10,000 crore.

The initial public offer would see sale of a little over 11 crore equity scrips –which is 22.5 per cent of total shares outstanding –by existing shareholders through the OFS route, according to the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP). Of the total shares on offer, around 15.8 per cent stake would be tendered by foreign shareholders, and 6.7 per cent by domestic entities.

The offer may give the exchange a valuation of Rs 50,000-55,000 crore, sources said, adding that the IPO itself could be worth about Rs 10,000 crore.

The draft papers have been filed with Sebi well ahead of the exchange’s own deadline of January 31, 2017.

NSE’s IPO would be the biggest initial public offering after Coal India. The state-run firm had hit the capital markets in 2010 to raise over Rs 15,000 crore.

Rival BSE is also in the process of launching its initial share sale of up to Rs 1,500 crore for which it filed draft prospectus with Sebi in September.

Besides, CDSL, promoted by BSE, filed the draft papers yesterday for an initial public offer through which it plans to sell more than 3.5 crore shares.

Currently, MCX is the only listed exchange in the country, but it had come out with an IPO as a standalone commodity exchange much before the merger of Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with Sebi to create a unified capital markets regulator.

Since then, all exchanges have become deemed stock exchanges.

After months of speculation, National Stock Exchange (NSE) in June announced its plans to get listed and had said IPO papers would be filed by January 2017.

Amid preparations for the share sale, NSE saw the surprise exit of its Managing Director and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna earlier this month. The exchange has already formed a listing committee to expedite the IPO process, apart from roping in merchant bankers.

It has appointed Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JM Financial Institutional Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company to manage its upcoming IPO. For the six months ended September 30, the exchange’s consolidated net profit stood at Rs 588.32 crore, while total income was Rs 1,343.51 crore.