Genpact lists on NYSE

India's largest business process outsourcing company, Genpact, was today listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

It had come out with an initial public offering (IPO) of 35.3 million common shares, priced at $14 a share, which enabled the company to raise $494 million. The initial market cap is about $2.89 billion.

The company had earlier estimated the pricing to be between $16 and $18.

The scrip today opened at the issue price and moved between an intra-day high of $14.25 and low of $13.63. The company will trade under the symbol "G".

The company sold half of the total shares while the other half was sold by shareholders like General Atlantic, Oak Hill Capital Partners and the General Electric Company.

Genpact has also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 5,294,118 shares to cover over-allotments.

Citing the current market scenario as one of the toughest conditions in the last few years, Pramod Bhasin, president and CEO, Genpact said, "G not only stands for the symbol on the market but also symbolises growth."

With the listing at the NYSE, the share of GE in its former captive has come down to 23 per cent from the earlier 28 per cent, while that of General Atlantic, and Oak Hill Capital Partners has also been reduced to 26 per cent each, making a total of 52 per cent.

The company plans to invest the net proceeds in potential acquisitions and pay off a part of its debt.

''We have about $190 million in debt, of which we intend to pay our short term debts,'' Bhasin said.

Bhasin chose not to comment on rumours that the company was in the running to acquire Citigroup's captive unit in India.

''We have acquired four companies so far. Some of the acquisitions have been small. In future we will look at bigger acquisition that will allow us to scale quickly," he said.

Commenting on the lower price of the share, which was earlier estimated between $16 -$18, Bhasin said, "We are happy to be able to get listed in this tough market, we can always raise more money later.''

Genpact had filed for listing on the NYSE in May, and this was considered to be the largest Indian IPO in the US, following in the footsteps of two other Indian BPOs "� WNS (NYSE) and EXL Services (Nasdaq).

Genpact employs about 30,000 people across India, China, Hungary, Romania, the Philippines, Mexico and the US.