Power Grid IPO - At 44-52 Rupees

State-run Power Grid Corp of India said on Tuesday it plans to raise up to 29.84 billion rupees in an initial public offer in September, to fund several transmission projects.

Power Grid operates most of India's inter-state transmission assets, and is the nodal agency for wheeling power across the country.

It also operates a 19,000-kilometre fibre-optic cable network and leases bandwidth to all major telecom operators.

The company has set a price band of 44-52 rupees per share for its offer of 573.9 million shares, set to open on September 10 and close on September 13.

The issue includes a fresh offer of 382.6 million shares and sale of 191.3 million shares by the government. The federal government's holding will fall to 86.36 percent from 100 percent after the issue, it said.

The money raised through the issue will be used to help fund 15 transmission projects worth 127 billion rupees, Finance Director J Shridhar told reporters.

He said Power Grid planned to invest 550 billion rupees in the transmission sector in the 2007-2012 period.

The company had earmarked about 85 billion rupees out of this for setting up the transmission network for the ultra-mega power projects, two of which are already under development.

India's transmission sector is expected to see a total investment of 1.4 trillion rupees during this period.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Co Ltd, Citigroup and Enam Financial Consultants are the lead managers to the issue.