Avenue Supermarts to launch Rs 1,870 cr IPO on March 8

Avenue Supermarts will take subscriptions for its initial public offering of up to Rs 1,870 crore on March 8-10 with the listing likely to take place on March 21, the supermarket operator said in a filing released on Friday.

The IPO by Avenue Supermarts, which operates 118 stores across 45 cities under the "D'Mart" brand, comes at a time when share markets are rallying, with the NSE index on Thursday hitting its highest since March 2015.

The IPO would be the country's biggest since PNB Housing Finance raised Rs 3000 crore in an initial share sale in October.

Indian companies raised $4 billion IPOs last year, making it the best year in six. Bankers expect fund raising from IPOs to be higher this year with a strong pipeline of initial share sales including top bourse National Stock Exchange's expected $1 billion listing.

Nine banks led by Kotak Mahindra Capital will manage Avenue Supermart's IPO. Other book runners, include Axis Capital, Edelweiss, HDFC Bank and ICICI Securities.