Edelweiss promoters to be worth Rs 1,168 cr

Rashesh Shah and Venkatchalam Ramaswamy, who left their secure jobs at ICICI Bank 11 years ago to float Edelweiss Capital, will be worth Rs 1,168 crore after its initial public offer (IPO) in mid-November.

Post-IPO, the Mumbai-headquartered Edelweiss Capital, an institutional brokerage-cum-financial services company, will become the second most valuable brokerage outfit in India with a market capitalisation of Rs 6,181 crore after Indiabulls Financial Services (Rs 15,017.55 crore).

At the lower end of the price band, Rashesh Shah's holding (10.84 million shares, or 13.29 per cent stake) is worth Rs 785.9 crore and Venkat Ramaswamy (52.76 lakh shares, or 6.47 per cent stake) will be worth Rs 382.51 crore.

Their wives' (Vidya Shah and Aparna T C) holdings of 3.8 per cent and 1.47 per cent, respectively, in the company will be valued at Rs 220 crore and 87 crore.

The calculation is based on the price band of Edelweiss Capital's IPO at Rs 725-825 apiece.

Market players say India has witnessed two waves, so far "� technology and telecom waves. The third wave is likely to be in the financial services sector.

The financial services segment has been the most active in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) this year and private equity players, who are looking at investing in this sector, do confess that valuations have gone through the roof.

Edelweiss Capital's IPO follows a similar initial share issue by another brokerage Motilal Oswal Financial Services, which made its two founders, Motilal Oswal and Raamdeo Agrawal, billionaires.

India Infoline (Rs 5,869.63 crore), Motilal Oswal Financial (Rs 3,094.19 crore) and IL&FS Investsmart (Rs 1,218.29 crore) are the other leading players in the industry.

Edelweiss is offering 83.86 lakh equity shares of Rs 5 each and the post-issue dilution is 10.92 per cent.

"We are all very excited about this event, especially because all our investors would get good returns on their investments," said Shah, who is the chairman, CEO and managing director of the company.