Bharti Infratel sets Rs4,530-cr target for IPO

Bharti Infratel Ltd, the telecom tower arm of India's biggest mobile service provider, will enter the capital market on 11 December with an initial public offer to raise Rs4,530 crore ($831 million) in what will be India's biggest IPO since that of Coal India Ltd two years ago.

On Friday, the company set a price band of Rs210-240 a share for its IPO. At the highest price band, the company would raise Rs4,530 crore, while at the lowest end, it would get Rs3,970 crore. The bid lot size for the IPO has been set at 50. The offering comprises 146.2 million new shares and 42.7 million existing ones.

The issue would close on 14 December. The book for anchor investors would be launched on 10 December. The retail discount decided on per share basis is Rs10 per share. Bharti Airtel, which owns about 86 per cent of Bharti Infratel, is not selling any shares.

The equity shares would be listed on the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The issue has been assigned a 4/5 grading by Crisil, indicating that the fundamentals of the issue are above average relative to other listed equity securities. According to Bloomberg, this is a good time to enter the market as Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co are forecasting a positive outlook for Indian equities for 2013.

Bharti Infratel has more than 33,000 towers in 18 states. The company also holds a 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers, the world's largest tower company with has around 110,000 towers. Bharti Airtel has more mobile-phone users than the population of Japan.