RPL raises Rs 2700 cr via pre-IPO placement

PETROLEUM COMPANIES EXPLORE NEW FRONTIERS

The placement made was at Rs 60 a share.

Reliance Petroleum has raised Rs 2700 crore through its pre-initial public offer placement of 450 million shares. The placement made to a host of foreign institutional investors, financial institutions and banks was at Rs 60 a share.

In a statement issued today, the company said these shares are locked in for a period of one year from the date of allotment of shares in the IPO.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is also believed to have invested Rs 450 crore in his personal capacity. Ambani's personal stake in RPL will be around 1.67 per cent after the IPO.

After the private placement, the size of the IPO, which is expected to open on April 10, would stand revised to 1350 million equity shares. Of these, Reliance Industries would subscribe to 900 million shares at the issue price.

For this purpose, RIL would make the payment one day prior to the opening of the issue at the higher end of the price band, the statement said. Thus, the net issue to the public would be 450 million shares.

The private equity investors, which are believed to have picked up equity, include Blackstone, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and UBS.

RPL, a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, is setting up a Rs 27,000-crore refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat. The public offer will mobilise funds in a range of Rs 4,900-5,800 crore ($1.1-1.3 billion), depending on the issue price of the fully book-built issue.

RPL filed a red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India in the first week of this month.

Sebi's clearance is expected any day now. RPL had recently concluded a syndicated loan of nearly Rs 6,750 crore. It intends to seek additional financing through an export credit of $1-1.5 billion (Rs 4.500-6750 crore.

In a rare show, almost all public sector banks led by State Bank of India have picked up RPL shares. While SBI has invested around Rs 300 crore in the private placement, some of the relatively smaller public sector banks have invested between Rs 30 crore and Rs 60 crore in picking up RPL shares.

Delhi-based Punjab National Bank too made investment in the RPL issue.

"As the demand was high, we have not got as much as we wanted. All were given proportional allotments," said a bank chairman. In private sector, ICICI Bank has participated in the private placement. Over all, about 50 per cent of the entire private placement was contributed to by Indian banks, sources said.