IndiGo announces Rs 1,125-1,175 band for planned QIP

InterGlobe Aviation, which operates India's top airline by market share IndiGo, on Wednesday announced a price band of Rs 1,125 to Rs 1,175 per share for its planned qualified institutional placement ( QIP).

It plans to sell 3.36 crore equity shares -a fresh issue of 2.24 crore shares, and an offer for sale of 1.12 crore shares by some promoter entities -in the QIP, the company said in a filing on September 11.

It will be able to raise Rs 3,780 crore at the lower end of the price band and Rs 3,948 crore at the upper end. InterGlobe Aviation closed at Rs 1,196.70 on the Sensex on Wednesday.

The QIP is primarily to help the company comply with the mandated shareholding structure of 75:25 between the promoters and the public. Promoters, led by Rahul Bhatia's InterGlobe Enterprises and co-owner Rakesh Gangwal, owned 85.85% of InterGlobe Aviation as of June-end, while the public holding was 14.12 per cent.



The funds raised will also help the airline in its capitalintensive plans. IndiGo has proposed to buy Air India, the state-run carrier, which was, earlier this year, put on the block by the government.

It will also need money to buy planes, given its plan to shift to an outright purchase business model from its current sale-and-leaseback method.Plane purchases are usually 80 per cent financed by exim banks, but given IndiGo's mammoth 400-plus orderbook, the predelivery payments would run into billions.

In November 2015, InterGlobe Aviation had raised Rs 3,010 crore in an initial public offer priced at Rs 765 a share.