Larsen & Toubro plans $500 mln-$1 bln toll road IPO in Singapore - IFR

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Larsen & Toubro Ltd is planning to list its toll road assets in Singapore in an initial public offering worth between $500 million to $1 billion using a business trust structure, IFR reported on Wednesday.

The earliest date for the IPO is the first quarter of 2014, IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication said, adding the current weak outlook for the Indian economy and the rupee makes it hard to sell a business trust IPO to foreign investors.

Nomura Holdings Inc <8604.T> and Standard Chartered PLC are working with Larsen & Toubro on the deal and others may also join the transaction, IFR said.

 

Officials with Larsen & Toubro and the banks were not available to comment.

Several other companies such as India's Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services, as well as Apollo Hospitals , have been working on Singapore business trust IPOs for their different subsidiaries in recent months, but without much progress, IFR said.

Business trusts, like real estate investment trusts, offer investors steady dividends, greater control over the assets in the trust and enjoy a favourable tax treatment.

(Reporting by S Anuradha of IFR; Editing by Matt Driskill)