TCS may list overseas
12 Apr 2007
Mumbai: Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, is considering a $1 billion-plus (over Rs4,300 crore) overseas equity sale in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) this year to fund acquisitions of other entities.
The
group is examining the merits of listing on the London,
Luxembourg and New York stock exchanges.
A listing on the New York Stock Exchange, where Infosys, Wipro and Satyam are also listed, gets immediate attention from global brokerages but is a cumbersome process as companies have to adhere to the time-consuming compliance norms under the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.
A listing on the London Stock Exchange is easier, but no major Indian software firm is listed on it yet. The possibility of TCS listing in Luxembourg appears to be the least likely option.
Bankers said raising funds through an equity sale in TCS makes sense as Tata Sons holds a 78.35-per cent stake in the country''s largest software company. As a policy, Tata Sons chips in with funds whenever any group entity makes a major acquisition.