Indian stock exchange seeks $182m through IPO

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was officially established in 1875 and has been keen on listing for several years but was impeded by regulatory hurdles. (Reuters)

MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange — Asia’s oldest bourse — will seek to raise $182 million through an initial public offering next week, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
The IPO will open on Jan. 23 and last three days, with shares priced at Rs805 ($11.84) and Rs806, Ashish Chauhan told a press conference in India’s commercial capital Mumbai.
“I urge investors to study, go through all the details and then invest,” Chauhan said, adding that the BSE hopes to raise Rs12.43 billion ($182 million) through the flotation.
The exchange’s shares will be listed on its chief rival, India’s National Stock Exchange. The flotation brings the BSE in line with most other stock markets around the world, which are already publicly-listed companies.
The BSE was officially established in 1875 and has been keen on listing for several years but was impeded by regulatory hurdles.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country’s market regulator, last year amended regulations to make it easier for stock exchanges to float, leading the BSE to apply for an IPO in September.
The BSE began life in the 1850s when a small group of traders used to gather under banyan trees outside the town hall of what was then called Bombay, now known as Mumbai.