Wockhardt Hospitals Limited is planning to enter capital markets with an initial public offering (IPO) of 25,087,097 equity shares of Rs10 each for cash at a price to be determined through a 100% book building process. The company has filed draft red herring prospectus with market regulator the Securities & Exchange Board of India on August 21, 2007.

The proposed initial public offering of Wockhardt Hospitals Limited, one of the largest private healthcare services companies in India based on the number of hospital beds, has been assigned an IPO grade of 4 out of 5 by rating agency, Fitch Ratings India Pvt. Ltd.

Wockhardt Hospitals Limited is planning to enter capital markets with an initial public offering (IPO) of 25,087,097 equity shares of Rs10 each for cash at a price to be determined through a 100% book building process. The company has filed draft red herring prospectus with market regulator the Securities & Exchange Board of India on August 21, 2007.

The issue comprises a net issue to the public of 24,587,097 equity shares of Rs10 each (the net issue) and a reservation of upto 500,000 equity shares for subscription by eligible employees. The Issue will constitute 28.77% of the post-issue paid up equity share capital of the company.

The Company intends to utilise the proceeds from the issue to meet the cost of development and construction of greenfield and brownfield hospitals of the company, prepay some of the short term loans and to meet general corporate expenses.

The equity shares are proposed to be listed on Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd. and National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.

The Joint Global Co-ordinators and Book Running Lead Managers (“GCBRLMs”) to the Issue are Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited. The BRLMs to the Issue are SBI Capital Markets Limited and ICICI Securities Limited.

Source : India Infoline