SKS Microfinance fixes IPO price band at Rs 850-985 a share

The nation's largest microfinance company SKS Microfinance today fixed the price band of its IPO at Rs 850 to Rs 985 per share.

The Hyderabad-based microfinance firm expects to raise up to Rs 1,654 crore through the initial public offering, which opens on July 28.

At the upper end of the price range, the issue is valued at Rs 1,653.97 crore, while at the lower end the IPO would be able to fetch about Rs 1,427.28 crore.

SKS is coming out in the capital market with a total issue size of 1.6 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each. The IPO closes on July 30 for institutional buyers and August 2 for retail and High Networth Individuals.

SKS Microfinance's public issue will the first such offer by any microfinance company in the country. The proceeds from the IPO would be used for meeting the company's future capital requirements.

Founded by Vikram Akula, SKS Microfinance has a customer base of around 53 lakh people. The non-banking firm is backed by several big private equity players, including Sequoia Capital-India.

Catamaran Management Services, a fund run by Infosys co- founder and chief mentor NR Narayana Murthy, has also made an investment in SKS. It was the first such investment by Catamaran.

Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Suisse and Kotak Mahindra are acting as book-running lead-managers to the issue.