HCL Tech fixes IPO price

BANGALORE: HCL Technologies Ltd. (HCLT) has fixed a price band of Rs 450-540

per share of Rs 4 each for its initial public offer (IPO) of 14.2 million shares

through the book-building process.

The proceeds of the issue, which is to be set off on November 16, would be in

the range of Rs 639 crore to Rs 767 crore, making it the largest offer from an

IT company in the country, HCL Technologies vice president Vineet Nayyar said.

The issue includes book-building portion of 12.78 million equity shares and

fixed price portion of 1.42 million shares, he said adding, however, the final

price would be decided based on the response to the book-building process. For

the first time in India, retail book building would be conducted through the

members of BSE and NSE, leveraging their reach through electronic network, he

said.

To have a broad investor base, the company has decided to reserve 25 per cent

out of the total issue for retail investors. This is above the mandatory limit

of 10 per cent to be issued through fixed price offering to retail investors.

The book-build price would be announced on November 25, a day after the bidding

closes, and the fixed price portion issue is scheduled for December 10, Mr

Nayyar added. Main objectives of the issue include funding mergers and

acquisitions and entering into joint ventures and strategic alliances, besides

developing management and software research infrastructure, he said. Joint

book-runners to the issue are Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and ICICI

Securities and Finance Company. Lead managers to the issue are JM Morgan Stanley

and DSP Merrill Lynch.