Bharti Infratel IPO subscribed 1.3 times

The biggest initial public offer in over 2 year, made by telecom tower company Bharti Infratel, has received total subscription of over Rs 4,365 crore or 1.3 times the issue size on its last day today.

The IPO, biggest since Coal India's offer in October 2010, attracted bids for over 20.78 crore shares -- of the 18.89 crore equity shares offered in the main book building process -- translating to 1.3 times subscription, as per stock exchange data at 1800 hrs.

Of the total shares reserved for retail investors, there were bids for just 6 per cent, while institutional investors category was subscribed 10 per cent.

On the other hand, the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) book, which closed yesterday, was subscribed 2 times. The issue was in the price band of Rs 210-240 a share. It had opened on December 11.

At the upper end of the price band, Bharti Infratel was to raise about Rs 4,533.60 crore, while at the lower end it could end up with Rs 3,966.90 crore.

The equity shares are proposed to be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.

Sunil Bharti Mittal led-company Bharti Airtel, which owns about 86 per cent of Bharti Infratel, is not participating in the share sale.

The company has said the proceeds from the IPO will be used to fund its expansion and future acquisitions. Bharti Infratel on Monday received Rs 651.7 crore from 18 anchor investors, including Morgan Stanley and Sundaram MF.

The company had priced shares for the anchor investors at Rs 230 a piece, and allocated 2.83 crore shares (15 per cent of the issue size) to them, Bharti Infratel had said in a filing to the BSE.

The joint book running lead managers to the IPO are DSP Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan India, Standard Chartered Securities (India) and UBS Securities India.

The issue's lead managers are Barclays Securities (India), Deutsche Equities India, Enam Securities, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company.

The co-book running lead managers to the issue are BNP Paribas, DBS Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Securities.

Bharti Infratel is the first tower company to come out with an IPO. Other players in the tower business include Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infratel, and Viom Networks - a joint venture between Tata Teleservices and Kolkata-based Quippo Infrastructure.