BackFairfax asked by Indian firms to raise $4 bn on London’s AIM
Fairfax asked by Indian firms to raise $4 bn on London’s AIM
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Hyderabad: Officials from Fairfax IS Plc., a London-based independent investment bank and broker on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), said the company has obtained a mandate from some Indian companies to raise $4 billion (Rs15,720 crore) by June 2008.
Adam Hart, Fairfax’s managing director, equities-corporate finance, said his company has raised approximately £1 billion for its clients since January last year, including £151 million for Indian firms.
AIM is LSE’s international market for small but growing companies. LSE has been wooing Indian companies to list on AIM, which allows smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system.
Declining to divulge the identity of the Indian companies that have decided on Fairfax to raise the $4 billion in funds, Hart said these companies operate in sectors such as property development, infrastructure and power. All these are currently closely held companies and Fairfax expects to complete the mandate by the first half of next year.
“One of them is a Mumbai-based property development company that has given us a mandate to raise $1 billion, while mandate from other companies range from $100 million to $250 million," Hart said.
Ibukun Adebayo, LSE’s manager for international business development, said there has been growing interest among the Indian companies across the sectors to list on AIM. The exchange is expecting additional issues from sectors such as the media, infrastructure and renewable energy before the year end. “Large Russian issues are coming to AIM and I hope to see anywhere between 3-4 more Indian companies come to us, this year," Adebayo said.
Currently, there are 20 Indian companies listed on AIM from sectors such as the media, infrastructure, power and real estate. Except Noida Toll Bridge Co. Ltd, all other Indian companies are not listed on the country’s bourses.
“So far this year, there were seven issues from India that raised just short of $800 million," Adebayo said.
“After the expected three-four more issues this year, we expect the total Indian fund-raising this year to reach around $1.4 billion."
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