MONEY
British telecoms operator Vodafone has picked Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA), Kotak Investment Banking and UBS as joint global coordinators of its Indian unit's $2-$3 billion IPO said a Reuters report, kicking off its long-awaited listing plan. The IPO is expected to raise between $2 billion–$2.5 billion, Reuters previously reported, which, at the upper end, would make it India's biggest stock market listing since state-owned Coal India Ltd raised $3.5 billion in 2010.
Deutsche Bank, HSBC and ICICI Securities have won joint book-runner roles, the people added, declining to be identified as the information is not public. Vodafone is likely to launch the IPO early next year, they said. The deal offers a rare opportunity for international banks in a market where equity capital raisings worth more than $1 billion are uncommon and where stock underwriting fees are amongst the lowest in the world.
This comes at a time when the tax department is set to challenge the Bombay High Court judgement on Vodafone’s Rs 3,200-crore transfer pricing case, this dispute is different from the Rs 20,000-crore retrospective dispute the company has with the Indian government. Vodafone has moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, seeking the appointment of a third arbitrator for the bigger dispute.