India's Signature Global cuts IPO size by 27% amid high borrowing costs

BENGALURU, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Indian real estate firm Signature Global reduced its total offer size for an initial public offering (IPO) to 7.3 billion rupees ($88 million) from 10 billion rupees, an updated prospectus showed.

The IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth 6.03 billion rupees and 1.27 billion rupees worth of shares being offered by the companys existing shareholder International Finance Corporation, a World Bank Group member, according to the prospectus dated Sept. 12.

\“A high-interest rate environment to tackle inflation poses a major challenge to both homebuyers and developers...believe these are among the reasons Signature Global would have reduced offer size,\” said Prashanth Tapse, senior vice president of research at Mehta Equities.

The company develops residential, commercial and retail projects mainly in the northern cities, including Gurugram, Karnal and Ghaziabad.

Its consolidated loss after tax narrowed to 638.6 million rupees for the financial year ended March 31 from 1.16 billion rupees a year earlier. Revenue from operations surged more than 72% to 15.54 billion rupees.

The offering comes at a time when benchmark index Nifty 50 (.NSEI) scaled record highs, aided by the inflow of funds from foreign and domestic investors.

Signature joins companies like Mankind Pharma (MNKI.NS) and Aeroflex Industries (AERO.NS), which recently made stellar debuts on improved domestic appetite for new listings.

ICICI Securities, Axis Capital and Kotak Mahindra Capital were book-running lead managers for Signature Globals IPO.

The bidding date for anchor investors is set for Sept. 18, while retail investors can make an offer from Sept. 20 to Sept. 22, the company said.

($1 = 82.9311 Indian rupees)