India's JSW Infrastructure receives bids worth $7.3 bln in IPO

BENGALURU, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Indian commercial port operator JSW Infrastructure received bids worth 606.13 billion rupees ($7.29 billion) in its initial public offering (IPO), exchange data showed on Wednesday.

The JSW Group-owned company received bids for 5.09 billion shares at between 113 and 119 rupees, 37.37 times more than the 136.3 million shares offered, National Stock Exchange data showed, with institutional investors showing the most interest.

The IPO of Indias second-largest commercial port operator in terms of cargo handling capacity was JSW Groups first since JSW Energy in 2010, and comprised of fresh issue of shares worth up to 28 billion rupees.

JSW Energy (JSWE.NS) debuted in January 2010, and has since risen more than four-fold in value.

JSW Infra, which competes with Adani Ports (APSE.NS) and Gujarat Pipavav Port (GPPL.NS), is due to be listed on Indian exchanges next week.

The company plans to use proceeds from the IPO to repay certain borrowings and invest in expansion projects at its units JSW Jaigarh Port and JSW Mangalore Container Terminal. It had a net debt of 22.16 billion rupees as of March 31, 2023.

It also plans to expand its operational capacity to up to 300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) across its ports and terminals by 2030 from around 158 MTPA currently.

In comparison, Adani Ports had a total operating capacity of 558 MMTPA as on March 31.

JSW Infras profit for fiscal 2023 more than doubled to 7.50 billion rupees year-on-year, while its revenue from operations rose 40.6% to 31.95 billion rupees, its IPO prospectus showed.

The listing would follow successful debuts by companies like Aeroflex Industries (AERO.NS) and Concord Biotech (CONB.NS) in the past few days owing to improved domestic appetite, and robust foreign and domestic fund inflows.

($1 = 83.1854 Indian rupees)