Edelweiss Capital to raise Rs 692 cr via IPO

New Delhi, Nov 14 (UNI) Investment banking firm Edelweiss Capital today said it is entering the capital market to raise up to Rs 692 crore with its initial public offering (IPO) of 83.86 lakh equity shares of Rs 5 each for cash.

The issue will open from November 15 to 20 and the price band has been fixed between Rs 725 and Rs 825.

Edelweiss Executive Director and Co-Head Venkat Ramaswamy said the proceeds of the issue will be used towards enhancement of margin maintenance with stock exchanges, establishment of additional offices and enhancement of existing technological capacity and loan pre-payment.

About Rs 378 crore of the proceeds will be used for upgrading the operations of ESL, the prospectus says. Edelweiss Capital also proposes to invest Rs 57 crore from the IPO proceeds for funding its own operations.

The issue represents 11.2 per cent of the post-issue equity of the company and includes 2.04 lakh shares reserved for the employees of the company. The issue is being offered through a 100 per cent book-building process.

During FY07, company's revenues more than doubled to Rs 371 crore from Rs 158 crore in FY06. In the same period, its net profit surged to Rs 109 crore from Rs 41 crore in 05-06.

Edelweiss Securities, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Edelweiss Capital accounted for more than half of the company's consolidated revenue.

UNI