Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) closed its initial public offering on 7 August 2004 after setting an Indian record for investor demand under the book-building method, according to the offering's lead manager at Merrill Lynch. The share sale aimed to raise up to 1.2 billion dollars, making it the largest IPO ever by a private Indian company and the second-largest technology IPO in Asia that year, behind Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., which raised 1.8 billion dollars in March.
The weeklong offering, extended by two hours on its final day at the request of the market regulator, was oversubscribed more than 10 times overall. Institutional investors, who received roughly 60 percent of the available shares, oversubscribed their portion seven times, with prominent foreign bidders including Fidelity and Deutsche State Street Bank among those participating.
TCS offered 55.45 million shares priced between 775 and 900 rupees each, with the final price expected to settle between 875 and 900 rupees. The stock was set to begin trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange within 10 to 15 days. Upon listing, TCS would carry a market capitalization of nearly 10 billion dollars, placing it among India's most valuable companies. The Bombay-based firm, founded in 1968, reported a 71 percent year-on-year rise in net profit for the quarter ending June.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in August 2004, in its own words.