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News >> Technology >>
Infosys ADS priced at $67; response huge
By agencies
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Friday, 27 May 2005, 19:30 IST
BANGALORE:Infosys Technologies Ltd. converted its 14 million Indian shares into U.S. stock at $67 each in a billion-dollar sponsored secondary offering.
The pricing of the American Depository Shares (ADS) was at a discount of 2.5 percent over Wednesdays Nasdaq closing of $68.75. However, the ADS pricing was at a 34 percent premium over domestic closing price.
At this pricing, the ADS issue size works out to $938 million, making it the largest sponsored ADS offering by an Indian firm. The underwriters have a seven-day option to buy the additional two million ADS. Should this happen, the issue size would rise to over a billion dollar.
Infosys is also offering 3.2 million shares to Japanese investors through a public offer without listing (POWL) as part of the issue. This is the first time an Indian company is offering POWL. The issue would increase the Infosys float on Nasdaq to 14 percent from eight percent.
The billion-dollar issue was oversubscribed by almost eight times, with Japanese investors showing keen interest. The issue was oversubscribed in Japan by three times, T.V. Mohandas Pai, chief financial officer said.
About 15,000 retail investors offered to sell some 52.4 million shares in the issue, Pai said. The combined holdings of all the shareholders who tendered their shares in the issue was over 184.3 million.
The issue saw a robust demand from institutional and quality investors, Pai said. About 50 percent of the demand came from the U.S. investors, while Europe and Asia accounted for 30 and 20 percent respectively.