India's BSE exchange draws robust demand for $182 million IPO

An initial public offering from India's BSE Ltd, the country's second-biggest stock exchange, was well oversubscribed on the last day of the sale, helped by attractive valuations and expectations of robust growth for stocks in the coming years.
The IPO, which is seeking to raise 12.43 billion rupees ($182 million), saw bids for 51 times the number of shares on offer, data showed as of 1800 India time (1230 GMT).
The strongest demand came from high net-worth individuals, who bid for 159 times the shares on offer, followed by institutional investors who bid for 48.6 times the shares allotted to them.
Although BSE is dwarfed by rival NSE in terms of trading volumes, Asia's oldest exchange is still expected to benefit from a surge of retail investments into mutual funds and government efforts to steer more pension money into stocks.
The strong demand is also a good sign for NSE which last month submitted its own application for an IPO that could raise as much as $1 billion.
"Financial markets are overall under-penetrated in India. As the working-age population increases, retail investor participation is expected to go up, and this can be a driver for the exchanges," said Rahul Joshi, an analyst for Dion Global Solutions. "It will be a great story going ahead."
More than 250 shareholders, including Singapore Exchange Ltd and billionaire George Soros' Quantum, are selling up to 15.4 million shares in BSE, which was founded in 1875 under a banyan tree as Bombay Stock Exchange.
That represents 28 percent of the company. At its marketed price range of 805 to 806 rupees per share, the exchange will have a market value of some 44 billion rupees.