Religare to float Rs 160 crore IPO

Religare Enterprises, a Ranbaxy-promoted group company, will soon be tapping the capital market with an initial public offering (IPO). The company is planning to raise close to Rs 150-160 crore.

Religare Enterprises is the holding company for all its businesses, with its subsidiaries Religare Securities, Religare Wealth Management Services, Religare Capital Markets and Religare Insurance Broking, among others.

According to sources close to the development, the company will be diluting around 15 per cent to the public. It had recently offloaded 7 per cent stake to Hottinger, a swiss bank, for Rs 80 crore.

The company will be filing the draft red herring prospectus(DRHP) with the Sebi next week. The rest of the stake will be held by Malvinder and Shivinder, the owners of Ranbaxy and Fortis respectively.

The company has appointed Enam Financial Consultants and Citigroup as the bankers to the issue.

Religare offers services ranging from equities, commodities and insurance to wealth advisory, portfolio management services, personal finance services, investment banking and institutional broking services.

The company spokesperson said, "We are planning for an IPO. It is very much on the cards." He, however, refused to divulge any further information. Religare recently joined hands with Dutch insurer Aegon to set up a life insurance and asset management venture in the country. The joint venture will be investing over Rs 1,000 crore in the initial phases of the project.