India's Multi Commodity Exchange's (MCX) initial public offering to raise as much as $134 million was subscribed 54 times on the last day of the issue, in a sign of revival in investor appetite for share offerings after a lacklustre 2011. India's first major IPO in seven months was being seen as a test of demand for new share offerings after weak local markets and the euro zone debt crisis forced many companies to shelve equity issuance plans last year.
"MCX IPO has brought much required smile on the face of the capital market and IPO market," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of research at SMC Global Securities. "There is very good chance that these kind of statistics and success can have spill-over effect on the market psyche," he said. "One can expect at least five to six more IPOs in the coming two to three months."
India's main share market index has risen nearly 16 percent this year after dropping 25 percent in 2011. Share offerings in the pipeline include follow-on share sales by state-run companies Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Steel Authority of India and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.
Citigroup sold its stake in India's mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp for $1.9 billion in market deals on Friday, the biggest share sale in the Indian market in nearly a year. MCX, which will become the first Indian bourse to list its shares on an exchange, had offered about 6.4 million shares in the IPO in a price range of 860 rupees to 1,032 rupees per share. The public sale opened on Wednesday and closed on Friday. The IPO drew bids for more than 297 million shares, or roughly 54 times the 5.5 million shares it was selling to retail and institutional investors. It has separately allotted 926,606 shares to cornerstone investors.
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