UTI MF files draft papers for IPO; issue size likely to be up to Rs 4000 cr

UTI Asset Management Company (AMC) on Thursday filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for an initial public offering (IPO), which will finally give the PSU shareholders and US-based T Rowe Price (the sole private investor) the opportunity to discover the value of their long-held investments. 

According to investment bankers, the issue size is expected to be Rs 3,000-4,000 crore, valuing the AMC at Rs 10,000-11,000 crore. 

This would value the AMC at close to 6 per cent of its asset size of Rs 1.54 trillion (as of September quarter). The IPO is an offer for sale of 38 million shares by State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BOB), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Punjab National Bank (PNB), and T Rowe Price. 

Barring T Rowe and PNB, the others are selling stake to comply with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) norms, which require them to have less than 10 per cent stake in UTI AMC.  BOB, SBI, and LIC will each sell 8.25 per cent stake, which will bring down their stake to 9.99 per cent. 
 

T Rowe Price, which has been clamouring for the IPO, is divesting only 3 per cent stake, indicating that the US-based asset manager sees further upside on its investment. It had bought 26 per cent stake in the AMC for Rs 650 crore, in 2010. At the estimated valuations, its stake will be valued at over Rs 2,600 crore.

Similarly, PNB is selling 3 per cent stake, which would reduce its stake to 15.24 per cent. As the bank exited its AMC joint venture with Principal in 2018, Sebi’s cross-holding norms are not applicable to the bank. 

I-bankers say the share sale is likely to get strong investor response, given that the already-listed AMCs on the bourse are trading at rich valuations. 

UTI AMC will become the third fund house to get listed on the bourses. On a year-to-date basis, HDFC AMC has delivered returns of 109 per cent, and Nippon India MF has gained 113 per cent. 

The IPO was consistently put on the back burner amid lack of agreement between various shareholders. The disagreements even saw T Rowe move Bombay High Court last year, questioning the delay in the IPO and questioning the way the AMC’s board was being run. In 2018, the regulator had stated that a sponsor of an existing AMC could not hold more than 10 per cent in any other AMC. SBI, LIC and BOB, each are sponsors in separate AMCs.