IPO rush: 4 companies to raise up to $5bn in Oct-Nov

NEW DELHI: At least four large initial public offers (IPOs) are expected to mop up anywhere between $4 billion and $5 billion in a span of 45-60 days, starting early Oct.First up will be the Tata Capital issue, estimated to be of around Rs 17,000 crore, which is expected to open in the first week of Oct.It will be followed by LG Electronics, the Indian arm of the South Korean giant, which despite lowering the proposed issue size is looking to raise around Rs 8,000 crore and will dilute around 10% equity in the company. The company earlier valued at close to Rs 1 lakh crore has seen a dip in value in recent months.Then, there are two public issues by startups, Groww, which will announce the details any day now, and Lenskart - both expected sometime in late Oct or early Nov.While Microsoft-backed Groww, the trading and investment platform, is expected to raise around $700-900 million, providing exits to several investors with the company's valuation pegged at $7-9 billon. The Lenskart IPO is expected to be a little bigger, with the entity valued at $8-10 billion with the issue size pegged at $900 million to $1 billion.Despite the market choppiness, driven by global developments around US tariffs, India has seen a robust IPO pipeline this year which has seen over 50 companies raise close to Rs 75,000 crore.

Market players say that over the last few years, the depth of Indian market has improved with a strong base of domestic investors, especially retail investors, who put in money through mutual funds, insurance and pension and also participate directly.