Hdfc Bank To Float $175m Ads Soon

HDFC Bank's $175 million American depository shares (ADS) issue is slated to hit the market in the next 10 days. Post-issue, parent HDFC's shareholding in the bank will come down from 28.26 per cent to around 25 per cent.

Managing director Aditya Puri, head -- credit and market risk, Paresh Sukthankar, and country head -- marketing and retail assets, Neeraj Swaroop, have left to attend the roadshows. HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh will join the team after the housing finance company's annual general meeting is over on July 18. The roadshows for the issue have been kicked off in south-east Asia, Europe and the US.

The bank, which was slated to announce its first-quarter results on July 16, has postponed it to July 31 as it wants to expedite the ADS.

The ADS will be priced through book-building, which would be based on investors interest. The bank had appointed Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley for managing the issue.

The bank had increased its foreign institutional investors limit to 40 per cent from 24 per cent. HDFC Bank's foreign holding as on March 31,2001, was 33.7 per cent, with Chase Group holding 13.35 per cent and FIIs, non-resident Indians and overseas corporate bodies having 20.16 per cent.

Foreign investors interest has risen after the bank was included in the Morgan Stanley Capital Index. The HDFC Bank's share price, which stood at Rs 204 on July 9 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, closed at Rs 217.40 on July 13.