UTI AMC Plans A Private Placement Of Equity

UTI Asset Management Company is planning a private placement of equity ahead of its public offer. “We plan to offload 20% through private placement that will be carried out by expanding the equity base,” UTI AMC chairman U K Sinha. No single investor would get more than 5% in the proposed sale through this route, he said.

At present, the company has a base of 5 crore shares. Out of this, one crore would be offloaded through private placement and 1.94 crore through IPO. The government nominees would hold 51% after the listing. Current equity holder in the AMC are State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Life Insurance Corporation and Bank of Baroda. They hold 25% each. The company board and the government has already approved expansion of its equity base. The IPO is expected to hit the markets in January.

Pre-IPO private placements have increasingly become common and set a benchmark for the company’s valuation during the IPO.

Industry sources said the fund house could raise about Rs 4,000 to 6,000 crore through a combination of private placement and public offer. This is because valuations in the mutual fund industry have been very upbeat. For a mutual fund, valuation is typically calculated as a percentage of assets under management, typically 5-7%, though the figure could be higher in some cases. UTI AMC has assets under management of Rs 40,000 crore.

UTI AMC was created in 2003 after the operations of India’s first mutual fund Unit Trust of India was split. The government had transferred the net asset value-based schemes to the AMC. The four sponsors had spent Rs 1,200 crore towards equity after its valuation by the government in 2005. This stake sale through both private placement and IPO will allow them to unlock value.