COUNTRY REPORT INDIAand GCX will also repay 5% of the principal
amount to forbearing bondholders if the
bonds are later refinanced in full. GCX will
also appoint a senior managing director of
FTI Consulting as chief restructuring officer.
In March, GCX hired Lazard as financial
adviser to evaluate refinancing options.
EQUITY CAPITAL MARKETS
› SBI CARDS INVITES BIDS FOR IPO
SBI CARDS AND PAYMENT SERVICES has invited
bids from banks for an IPO of Rs50bn–
Rs60bn (US$700m–$841m) and plans to
hire up to eight of them to manage the
offering.
India’s second largest credit card
company in terms of users said in a request
for proposal that the bids have to be
submitted by September 11.
The RFP did not indicate the size of the
IPO but SBI Cards said it would sell 130.5m
secondary shares, or 14% of capital, and
Rs10bn primary shares. The deal, if it goes
through, would be the first IPO by a credit
card company in India.
SBI Cards is a joint venture between
State Bank of India (76%) and global private
equity firm Carlyle (24%), which will both
be selling shares in the IPO.
In June, SBI Cards chief financial
officer Prashant Kumar told IFR Asia that
the company was targeting the current
financial year that ends on March 31 for
the IPO launch.
The company’s credit card user base
was 8.27 million in the financial year that
ended on March 31 2019, up from 6.26
million in the year ago period.
› UJJIVAN SFB FILES IPO PROSPECTUS
UJJIVAN SMALL FINANCE BANK has filed a draft
prospectus for an IPO of up to Rs12bn set
for later this year.
The offer will comprise primary shares.
Ujjivan SFB said it was planning a pre-IPO
placement of up to Rs3bn. If successful, the
size of the IPO will be reduced by the same
amount.
Under Reserve Bank of India rules,
Ujjivan SFB, as a small lender, is required
to list within three years of beginning
operations, giving it a deadline of January
- Ujjivan SFB is a subsidiary of
microfinance lender Ujjivan Financial
Services, which listed in 2016.
IIFL Holdings, JM Financial and Kotak are the
banks on the transactions.
Ujjivan SFB reported income of Rs20bn
in the financial year to March 2019 against
Rs16bn in FY18. Net profit rose to Rs2bn
from Rs67m.
› FIVE INVESTORS BUY 65% OF YES QIPFive investors bought 65% of YES BANK’s
Rs19bn qualified institutional placement of
new shares on August 8.
The five are Societe Generale (43.3m
shares, or 18.8% of the QIP), Key Square
Master Fund (37.4m shares/16.2%), BNP
Paribas Arbitrage (33.3m shares/14.4%),
HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund (23.7m
shares/10.3%) and Key Square Master Fund
II (13.6m shares/5.9%), Yes Bank said in a
stock exchange announcement.
The bank sold 231.9m shares or 10% of
the capital at Rs83.55 each last week.
The price represented a 6.3% discount to
the pre-deal close of Rs89.20.
The bank had shareholder approval to
issue shares up to US$1bn (around Rs70bn)
but sought only a fraction of that amount.
It will use the funds to raise its capital
adequacy ratios.
CLSA, JM Financial, Motilal Oswal, Prime
Securities and Yes Securities were the joint
global coordinators and joint bookrunners.› ESAF SFB HIRES BANKS FOR IPOESAF SMALL FINANCE BANK has hired Axis,
Edelweiss, ICICI Securities and IIFL Holdings
to manage an IPO of up to Rs10bn early
next year, people with knowledge of the
transaction said.
Initially founded as a microfinance
organisation, ESAF SFB started operations
as a small finance bank in 2017 and, under
Reserve Bank of India guidelines, has to list
within three years.
The bank reported income of Rs10bn
in the financial year to March 31 2019,
up from Rs5.9bn in 2018. Net profit rose
to Rs902m from Rs269m over the same
period.
Based in Kerala, ESAF SFB has 436 outlets,
comprising 238 retail outlets and 198 ultra-
small branches in 14 Indian states.› DLF DENIES NON-DISCLOSURE ALLEGATIONReal estate firm DLF has denied allegations
of a non-disclosure of material information
in the offer document of its Rs32bn
qualified institutional placement in March.
The company sold 173m shares at
Rs183.40 apiece in the placement. The offer
was well received, with foreigners buying
85% of the transaction. JP Morgan, Kotak
and Morgan Stanley were the bookrunners.
DLF said it had received a Supreme Court
notice in July after a petitioner claimed
that it had suppressed information on the
judicial proceedings regarding a land bank
it owns in the northern Indian state of
Haryana.
DLF informed the stock exchanges thatthe complainant, K.K. Sinha, had also filed
a similar complaint on the company’s
IPO prospectus in 2007. The Securities
Appellate Tribunal ruled in its favour in
March 2015, observing that there were no
misstatements or non-disclosures.
“Since the SAT order had stated that
certain entities are not subsidiaries of
DLF group and, consequently, litigation
pertaining to such companies does not
require disclosure, in compliance therewith
and the current securities regulations, the
alleged ongoing land litigation did not
require disclosure,” DLF said.
Last Thursday, DLF shares fell 16% to
Rs144.45 and were down 19% year to date.› IRCTC FILES FOR UP TO RS6BN IPOState-owned INDIAN RAILWAY CATERING AND
TOURISM CORPORATION has filed a draft
prospectus for an IPO of Rs5bn–Rs6bn and
is targeting a launch before the end of the
year.
The government of India will be selling
22m shares, or a 12.5% stake, from its 100%
holding.
IRCTC is the only entity authorized by
Indian Railways to provide catering services
on the railways as well as online railway
tickets and packaged drinking water at
railway stations and on trains in India. The
central public sector enterprise has also
diversified into other business segments
like e-catering, executive lounges and
budget hotels. IRCTC operates the website
http://www.irctc.co.in.
It earned revenue of Rs19.6bn in the
financial year that ended on March 31 2019
versus Rs15.7bn in the year ago period. Net
profit rose to Rs2.7bn from Rs2.2bn during
the same period.
IDBI Capital, SBI Capital and Yes Securities
are the banks on the transaction.› LIC HOUSING SEES UNDISCLOSED SELLERAn undisclosed institutional investor has
raised Rs14bn through the sale of 33.7m
LIC HOUSING FINANCE shares at Rs428, a person
with knowledge of the transaction said.
The shares were priced from a
Rs425.15–Rs449.50 range and the final
price represents a 7.6% discount to the pre-
deal close of Rs463.40. Last Thursday LIC
Housing shares ended 11% down at Rs414.
The shares sold represent 6.7% of share
capital.
Goldman Sachs is the sole bookrunner.› RELIANCE SCHEDULES JIO, RETAIL IPOSConglomerate Reliance Industries aims to
list wireless broadband services provider
RELIANCE JIO INFOCOMM and retail arm RELIANCE