India's UTI defers $480m share sale plan

Mumbai: India's UTI Asset Management has put off plans for a $480 million share sale after falling stocks hit sentiment, joining other firms that have pulled or deferred offerings, six sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

UTI, India's No. 4 mutual fund, was not confident of a good response after the stock market slumped 23 per cent in the past seven weeks, the longest stretch of weekly losses in seven years.

"It's deferred," one source in UTI said, referring to the proposed sale that must be launched by July 22, according to the regulator's approval.

ICICI Securities, a unit of No. 2 lender ICICI Bank, JSW Energy and Vedanta Energy are among firms that have delayed plans for an IPO due to a subdued market.

UTI, which manages $12 billion, had aimed to sell 49 per cent through sale by its founders and fresh issue of shares by the asset manager in a price band of Rs270-320 a share.

The sale was slated for launch in mid-July, with private placement of new shares set to happen before that, said the sources, including bankers involved in the deal.

"We were just not comfortable after the slide in the secondary market in the last fortnight. The pace at which it fell dented our confidence totally," said one banker, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorised to speak. An UTI spokesman declined comment.

The 30-share BSE index fell about 8 per cent in the last two weeks, rattled by rising interest rates, 13-year high inflation and record oil prices.

The benchmark index had slid 18 per cent in June, its sharpest monthly fall in 16 years, and is down nearly a third this year.

Stakeholders

Government-run lenders State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda and state-owned Life Insurance Corp each own 25 per cent of UTI.

They had proposed to sell 48.5 million shares, or 35 per cent of the equity, for up to $360 million. UTI had hoped to raise up to $120 million through issue of fresh shares.

After the IPO and private placement, public holding in the asset manager would have been 49 per cent, including shares held by employees trust.

JM Financial, Citigroup, Enam Securities, Goldman Sachs, ICICI Securities, SBI Capital Markets and CLSA India are advisers to the issue.

Indian IPO proceeds fell 7 per cent to $4.3 billion from 29 deals in the six months to June. After a $3 billion offering, India's largest, from Reliance Power in January, offerings have declined sharply in every month, with some such as the Indian unit of Dubai's Emaar Properties withdrawing its IPO.