PNB Housing, Stock Holding Corp plan to float IPO

Proceeds of the initial public offerings will be used for business expansion plans & working capital needs

After private sector firms, subsidiaries of state-owned companies are flocking to the IPO market, with PNB Housing Finance and Stock Holding Corporation of India planning to float their maiden public offerings.

The proceeds of the initial public offerings (IPOs) will be used for business expansion plans, working capital needs and for other general corporate purposes.

According to sources, these companies are expected to file their draft documents with capital markets regulator Sebi soon.

However, the likely size of the planned IPOs could not be ascertained.

Stock Holding is a custodian and depository service provider and presently holds USD 185 billion of assets under custody.

It is a subsidiary of IFCI, a wholly government-owned financial institution that provides long-term funding to the infrastructure and industrial sectors.

PNB Housing Finance is the mortgage finance arm of public sector lender Punjab National Bank, which holds 51 per cent of share capital in the firm and the remaining 49 per cent is owned by US-based private equity giant Carlyle Group.

Apart from PNB Housing Finance and Stock Holding, many more companies including GoAir, a Wadia Group-promoted budget carrier, are expected to file their IPO papers soon.

Since the beginning of 2015, as many as 38 companies have filed their draft documents with Sebi to float IPOs. All these companies are from the private sector.

In the same period, the markets watchdog has given approval to 28 firms to launch their initial share sale plans, some of which were pending from the previous year.

Moreover, so far 16 companies have launched IPOs this year and have collectively raised nearly Rs 7,800 crore, making 2015 the best period in four years in terms of fund raising through initial share-sale programmes.

In comparison, six IPOs had hit the market in the entire 2014 garnering just Rs 1,261 crore, while three firms had launched public issues in 2013 to mobilise Rs 1,284 crore.

A total of Rs 6,938 crore and Rs 5,966 crore had been mopped up in 2012 and 2011 respectively. The highest-ever mobilisation through IPOs in a single year was in 2010 at Rs 37,535 crore.