Reliance Nippon AMC IPO sees Rs 15k-cr demand from anchor investors

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group's asset management arm is expected to see a huge demand of over Rs 15,000 crore from anchor investors against the earmarked book size of Rs 462 crore for them under its forthcoming IPO, merchant banking sources said.

The firm has fixed a price band of Rs 247-252 per equity share. At the upper end of the price band, the share sale would garner Rs 1,542.42 crore.

It will be the first initial share sale by a major asset management company (AMC) in India though smaller rival UTI Mutual Fund's IPO plans have been in the works for a long time.

It will also be the first initial public offer (IPO) from the Reliance Group after Reliance Power in 2008. Other listed firms of the group included Reliance Capital, Reliance Home Finance, RCOM, Reliance Infra and Reliance Naval & Engineering.

According to merchant banking sources, Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Company (RNAM) has received great response from investors for its initial share sale during the recent roadshows.

The company is expected to see demand worth more than Rs 15,000 crore for the shares on offer for anchor investors, they added.

The portion allocated for anchor investors is worth Rs 462 crore. The anchor book subscription will be open on October 24.

Further, more than 50 global anchor investors have already applied for anchor allocation portion from the US, Japan, Singapore and India. These include sovereign wealth funds, mutual fund houses and private insurance companies.

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity International, DE Shaw, Morgan Stanley, HDFC Mutual Fund (MF) SBI MF, DSP BlackRock MF, UTI MF, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company and Bajaj Allianz are among the anchor investors that approached RNAM's for anchor portion.

RNAM's IPO will be open for public subscription on October 25-27. The public issue comprises fresh issuance of 2.45 crore shares, besides an offer for sale of 3.67 crore shares by Reliance Capital and Nippon Life Insurance Company.

Reliance Capital and Nippon Life will each dilute 3 per cent stake. The IPO size will be around 10 per cent of the post issue paid-up capital of the company.

JM Financial, CLSA, Nomura and Axis Capital are the global coordinators and book running lead managers for the initial share sale.