Afcons Infra to float IPO
Chennai: Shapoorji Pallonji group company Afcons Infrastructure, a construction and civil engineering company, has filed a draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for approval for its maiden public issue.

Company officials said the listing would help the company in signing joint ventures, international bids and attracting talent. The company proposes to offer 1.61 crore equity shares of Rs10 each for cash at a premium. The issue comprises a net issue of 1.57 crore shares to the pubic. The issue would constitute 18.3 per cent of the post issue paid-up capital of the company. The net issue constitutes 18 per cent of the post issue paid-up capital of the company.

Officials said the Rs125 crore from the proceeds of the IPO would be used to purchase capital equipment, Rs75 crore for repayment of debt and the remaining for general corporate purposes and strategic initiatives.
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Firstsource IPO to open on Jan 29
Mumbai: Firstsource Solutions is entering the capital market with an initial public offering of 6.93 crore equity shares of Rs10 each for cash at a premium to be decided through the 100 per cent book-building process.

Firstsource is a BPO company providing business process solutions in the banking & financial services, telecom & media and healthcare sectors.

The company intends to use the net proceeds of the issue to make acquisitions, set up new facilities and repay a loan.

The price band for the issue has been fixed between Rs54 and Rs64 per share and at the upper end, the issue size works out to Rs443.52 crore.

The issue will constitute 16.65 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue equity share capital of the company.

At least 60 per cent of the net issue to the public shall be allotted on a proportionate basis to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). Further, 10 per cent of the net issue shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to non-institutional bidders, while 30 per cent of the net issue to the public shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to retail bidders.

The company intends to utilise Rs180 crore of the net proceeds for acquisitions by March-end 2008. The company said its growth strategy involves gaining new clients and expanding its service offerings, both organically and through strategic acquisitions.
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Bharti will allow Vodafone to sell its stake in open market
Davos: Sunil Mittal, chief of Bharti Airtel, has given his go-ahead to British telecom giant Vodafone to sell the stake it has in Bharti Airtel in the open market, in case the UK firm acquired Hutch's stake in Hutch-Essar.

Mittal said it would be good for the company as well since more of the float would get created. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting which began here today.

Vodafone is a front-runner for acquiring Hutchison Telecom's majority stake in the Indian venture Hutch-Essar. Indian partner Essar, Reliance Communications and Hindujas are also interested in picking up the 67 per cent stake.

The British firm has about 9.9 per cent in India's largest mobile operator. The two companies have a non-compete clause in the agreement, and Vodafone has to seek Bharti's permission before buying a stake in a rival company.
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MF investors soon to get relief on MIN
Mumbai: The Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) and CDSL Ventures (CVL) are proposing to make use of the permanent account number (PAN) as the mutual fund identification number (MIN). The MIN is mandatory for investments above Rs 50,000.

The ministry is learned to have written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Amfi over the issue, as the latter is facing criticism from investors and distributors for introducing the investor identification norms in a hurried manner.
CVL is making changes in the MIN allotment procedure and is likely to do away with scanning of certified documents at the point of service (Pos) centres. Now, it plans to scan documents at its centralised data centre instead of the PoS. The change is expected to speed up the procedure.

However, investors will have to submit identity proofs and income details.
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