Tuesday, July 8, 2008

UTI Asset Management Defers IPO Plans - July 8, 2008

Mumbai: UTI Asset Management Company has decided to defer its proposed initial public offer. The initial public offer was expected to hit the market this month.

The source said that with equity market in turmoil the sponsors of the AMC have decided to put off the IPO plan. SEBI had cleared UTI's draft red herring prospectus on April 22. The AMC was supposed to complete the IPO process with in three months, which will expire by July 21. Sources, said UTI AMC is going slow and it is unlikely that the process would be completed before the expiry date.

UTI AMC plans to offload 38.8 per cent or 48.5 million of outstanding shares of the company. The AMC had also planned a pre-IPO private placement of 16 million shares, which is also delayed. According to the SEBI regulations, UTI will have to restart the process by filing fresh application once the three-month period expires. Since the beginning of equity market meltdown, several IPOs including Wockhardt Hospital and the Dubai-based Emaar MGF had been called off mid-way following poor investor response.

UTI AMC has four sponsors: State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Life Insurance Corporation of India, each holding 25 per cent stake. An analyst said the mutual fund had no dearth of funds and given the current market condition, the AMC would have decided not to go ahead with the IPO.

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