Sterlite to list ADS today

Sterlite Industries will tomorrow list its American Depository Shares (ADS) issue, the largest by any Indian company, on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The listing price will be benchmarked against the stock's close of Rs 544.40 on the BSE today.

However, the price has not been determined at the time of going to the press. Bankers close to the issue said the company would fix the price after today's market hours in New York.

It is learnt that the issue has received response from big investors such as Capital International, Texas Pacific Group, TCI, HSBC and Blackrock.

The issue proceeds will be utilized to part-finance the company's plans to set up a power plant at an investment of Rs 12,500 crore.

The issue, which offers 125 million fresh shares with an option to sell an additional 18.75 million shares, will generate a minimum Rs 6,800 crore at today's closing price of Rs 544. If the green shoe option is fully subscribed, the total proceeds will be Rs 7,800 crore.

The face value of the Sterlite stock is Rs 2.

The biggest ADS issues to come out of India so far include those of ICICI Bank ($500 million), Wipro ($500 million), HDFC Bank ($300 million) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories ($260 million).

After the issue, the shareholding of the London-based Vedanta Resources, the promoters, will come down to around 64 per cent from the existing 80 per cent, depending on the greenshoe option.