Cairn India fixes price band for IPO at Rs 160 to Rs 190

Mumbai, Nov 29 (UNI) Cairn India Ltd, a crude oil and natural gas exploration and production company, has fixed the price band for its initial public offering (IPO) opening on December 11 at Rs 160 to Rs 190 per share of Rs 10 each.

The IPO envisages issue of 328,799,675 equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at a premium to be decided through a 100 per cent book-building process.

Announcing the details of the IPO to the media here today, Cairn India CEO Rahul Dhir said gross proceeds from the IPO would help Cairn India help raise a minimum of Rs 8616 crore at the lower end of the price band and a maximum of Rs 9947 crore at the upper end of the price band.

''Our biggest project to date is in Rajasthan where we are ready to start the construction phase of our Mangala development in 2007 in order that large scale production can start in 2009. Our total operated production in India is currently 87,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day(OEPD) which is expected to go up to approximately 200,000 barrels of OEPD by the end of the decade,'' Mr Dhir noted.

Of the total offer, Mr Dhir said, the company has completed a pre-IPO placement of 209.67 million equity shares, thus the net offer to public would stand reduced to 328.80 million equity shares along with greenshoe option. The IPO closes on December 15, 2006.

Mr Dhir said the proceeds of the IPO would be used to pay Cairn Energy PLC for acquiring shares of Cairn India Holdings Ltd, apart from fund development in the Rajasthan Block as also for additional drilling in Ravva and Cambay fields, besides financing new exploration and appraisal activities from additional exploration contracts that may be awarded in NELP Round VI.

DSP Merrill Lynch and ABN Amro Securities India are acting as Global Coordinators and Book Running Lead Managers(BRLM) to the issue along with JM Morgan Stanley as another BRLM.

UNI SN PM AW1538