HFFC IPO to open on Jan 21; Price band at `517-518/share

New Delhi: Mortgage financier Home First Finance Company (HFFC) on Tuesday fixed a price band of Rs 517-518 a share for its initial share-sale, which will open for public subscription on January 21.

This would be the third initial public offer (IPO) this year after Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) which is currently open for public subscription, and Indigo Paints, which would be launched on January 20.

The IPO of Home First Finance Company aggregating up to Rs 1,153.71 crore comprises a fresh issue of up to Rs 265 crore and an offer-for-sale aggregating up to Rs 888.71 crore by promoters and existing shareholders, the company said in a statement. The offer-for-sale consists of shares worth Rs 435.61 crore by promoter True North Fund V LLP, Rs 291.28 crore shares by promoter Aether (Mauritius) Ltd, Rs 120.46 crore by investor Bessemer India Capital Holdings II Ltd and up to Rs 41.3 crore by two individual shareholders - PS Jayakumar and Manoj Viswanathan.

The company has reduced the fresh issue size following the allotment of shares worth Rs 75 crore and Rs 4.84 crore to Orange Clove Investments BV, an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, and to its certain Employees respectively by way of preferential issue. The IPO would be open for subscription on January 21 and close on January 25. The anchor investors' portion will be open for subscription on January 20.

HFFC intends to utilise the net proceeds towards augmenting its capital base to meet its future capital requirements. Half of the issue is reserved for qualified institutional buyers, 35 per cent for retail investors and 15 per cent for non-institutional buyers. Axis Capital, Credit Suisse Securities (India) Pvt Ltd, ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company will manage the share sale. Shares of the company are proposed to be listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BSE.