Hudco's ~1,200-crore IPO to open on May 8

Housing and Urban Development Corporation's (Hudco's) initial public offering (IPO), the first by the public sector undertaking (PSU) in five years, will hit the markets on May 8. The Union government will dilute 10.13 per cent stake (204 million shares) in the housing and urban infrastructure financer in the IPO as a part of its 2017-18 disinvestment programme. The price band for the IPO has been set at ~56-60 per share. Retail investors and employees are being offered a discount of ~2 per share on the issue price. At the top end of the price band, the Centre will raise around ~1,200 crore. The issue will close on May 11 and bids will not be accepted on May 10, 2017, being a public holiday. IDBI Capital Markets, ICICI Securities, Nomura Financial and SBI Capital Markets are the investment banks handling the IPO. The last IPO by a state-owned company was NBCC (India) in March 2012. The government is planning to raise ~72,500 crore through disinvestment in financial year 2018. Last week, the government divested 10 per cent stake in Nalco to raise ~1,200 crore.