Billionaire Birla's Novelis seeks to complete US IPO as soon as June

By Amy Or

Novelis Inc., the aluminum products maker owned by billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Hindalco Industries Ltd., is seeking to complete a planned US initial public offering as soon as early June, according to people familiar with the matter.
 

The company, owned by a unit of India’s Hindalco, could begin formally marketing the deal in about two weeks, they said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Novelis on Monday filed publicly with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the listing.

Hindalco is seeking to raise about $1.2 billion in the IPO for Atlanta-based Novelis and may target a valuation of about $18 billion, Bloomberg News has reported. 

Details of the offering including timing could change, the people said. A representative for Novelis declined to comment. 

Novelis is working with Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. on the potential New York Stock Exchange listing, the filing shows. The stock will be offered by a Hindalco subsidiary and Novelis won’t receive any proceeds of the sale, the filing shows.

Novelis is the world’s biggest maker of flat-rolled aluminum products, used in an array of goods, from cars to soda cans. The company said in February it had filed confidentially for the listing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Hindalco purchased Novelis in 2007 at about a $6 billion valuation including debt, a filing from the time shows. About 42% of Novelis’ global net sales come from North America, according to its IPO filing.