Pantaloon QIP to start today

Pantaloon Retail, the country’s largest listed retailer, was likely to open its qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue from Friday, sources said. The company plans to raise anywhere between Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore from the issue.

The floor price, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India formula, is Rs 316, average of the share price for the two weeks preceding the QIP date. The company was most likely to fix a price above the floor price, depending on the investor response, sources said.

Pantaloon is planning to use the QIP proceeds to repay its debt and fund new store openings. It has Rs 3,800 crore debt on the books, with a debt to equity ratio of 1.2. The management is planning to reduce this to 0.8 after its fund raising exercise.