Infosys prices ADS at $67

The issue is likely to fetch over $1 bn.

Infosys Technologies today priced its sponsored American depository shares at $67 per ADS. The issue, including that to underwriters, is likely to fetch over $1 billion.

The price of $67 per ADS is at a 2.5 per cent discount to yesterday's closing price of the company's scrip on Nasdaq and is at a 34 per cent premium to domestic share prices.

The underwriters of the issue have seven days to exercise their option for 20,00,000 shares.

Over 14,500 investors offered more than 52 million shares, or over three times the total size of the sale. As their total holding was over 184 million shares, an allocation factor of 8.68 per cent had been arrived at, TV Mohandas Pai, chief financial officer of Infosys, told reporters. That is, 16 million means 8.68 per cent of 184 million.

So, "for a shareholder who has tendered exactly 8.68 per cent of his total holding, or less, all the shares tendered will be accepted. For a shareholder who has tendered more, the balance will be returned," Pai explained.

"This is a historic day for us, and for India," Pai said, "as the offer is the first billion-dollar ADS from an Indian firm".