The National Stock Exchange of India is open to exploring an initial public offering and list on rival exchanges. This would provide an exit route to those shareholders who are keen to divest stake in the country’s largest bourse.
Responding to a BusinessLine query, NSE in a statement said, “We never said we are against such options. Whenever time will come, the NSE board and the management will take it to its logical conclusion.”
A senior official of one of NSE’s major shareholders requesting anonymity said, “A shareholder meeting was held last Monday (June 29) and a few shareholders, especially foreign investors, had queried the bourse on its plans to list itself and provide them an exit route.
“The bourse had then confirmed to the group of shareholders that it was not averse to the idea to list and would prepare itself for an IPO. However, the IPO plans would hinge on SEBI’s approval on the issue of listing of stock exchanges, besides the timing of the issue, NSE had stated.”
NSE has marquee investors as shareholders (see table) with LIC and SBI being its largest shareholders. Its third-largest shareholder IFCI had indicated a partial stake sale in the last week of May.
IFCI’s MD & CEO Malay Mukherjee had then said, “We have not given up on the plan. The offers we received last year were not favourable. It (partial stake sale) will definitely happen this fiscal,” Mukherjee told when asked if the stake sale plan in NSE was shelved or was still on IFCI’s radar.
IFCI initially held 12.44 per cent stake in NSE, but sold 7 per cent to Goldman Sachs Group Inc, NYSE Group Inc, General Atlantic LLC and Softbank Asian Infrastructure Fund in 2007.
IFCI’s moveState-owned IFCI is looking to shed a further 2.5 per cent stake. IFCI was close to completing a deal with a private equity firm, which was keen to pick up the 2.5 per cent shareholding in the NSE. However, the transaction fell through on “pricing” issue, it was learnt.