India's Bharti Hexacom jump 32.5% in debut trade at $4.53 bln valuation

Bharti Hexacom

12/04/2024 05:33

BENGALURU, April 12 (Reuters) - Bharti Hexacom's shares
 BHAX.NS  surged 32.5% in their trading debut on Friday, valuing
the Indian telecom operator at 377.50 billion rupees ($4.53
billion). 
    The stock opened at 755 rupees, compared with its initial
public offering price of 570 rupees. Analysts had expected the
stock to list at a premium of 10% to 15%.
    The benchmark index Nifty 50  .NSEI  was down 0.4%, while
shares of Bharti Airtel  BRTI.NS , India's No.2 telecom operator
by subscribers, were down 0.6%.
    The billionaire Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel owns 70% of
Bharti Hexacom, which is the latest unit of a conglomerate to
cash into investor appetite for public offerings as the stocks
market hits record highs.
    The Tata Group's Tata Technologies  TATE.NS  and JSW Group's
JSW Infrastructure  JSWN.NS  had strong debuts late last year.
    So far this year, 64 Indian companies have gone public,
raising $2.31 billion cumulatively, compared with 42 companies
raising $170.6 million in the same period last year, according
to LSEG data.
    Bankers expect the momentum to persist amid rapid economic
growth and expectations of political stability.
    While Bharti Airtel operates across India, Bharti Hexacom
offers mobile, broadband and fixed-line telephone services under
the "Airtel" brand in the northwestern state of Rajasthan and
some parts of northeastern India. 
    The 42.75-billion rupee IPO was oversubscribed 29.88 times
last week. Government-owned Telecommunications Consultants India
sold half of its 30% stake in Bharti Hexacom in the IPO. The
company itself did not issue fresh shares.


($1 = 83.3750 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia
Cheema)
 ((ramavenkat.raman@thomsonreuters.com; https://twitter.com/ramavenkat0607;
 +91 8095218099;))