National Stock Exchange (NSE), India's largest bourse, on Wednesday filed draft papers with market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), for its much-awaited initial public offer (IPO).
According to bankers, the IPO may give the exchange a valuation of over Rs 50,000 crore, making the public offer one of the biggest in recent times with an estimated size of over Rs 10,000 crore.
The IPO by NSE will 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.
Its rival BSE Ltd has filed for IPO in September. Sebi is yet to give its nod.
The two IPOs come at a time when emerging markets have been under pressure as global investors have shifted funds towards the US.
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 IPO.
According to the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP), the IPO would see sale of a little over 11 crore equity shares -- which is 22.5% of total shares outstanding -- by existing shareholders through the Offer For Sale (OFS) route.
Of the total shares on offer, around 15.8% stake would be tendered by foreign shareholders, and 6.7% by domestic entities.
For the six months ended September 30, the NSE's consolidated net profit stood at Rs 588.32 crore, while total income was Rs 1,343.51 crore.
NSE's listing is expected to be one of the most high profile in 2017. Indian companies raised more than $3.7 billion from IPOs this year, the most in six years, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.
