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Published: Thursday September 20, 2012 MYT 10:41:00 AM

Astro TV locks in cornerstones for IPO


KUALA LUMPUR: Japanese bank Nomura Holdings Inc and Singapore's Great Eastern Holdings Ltd are among the 16 cornerstone investors for the $1.5 billion listing of pay-TV firm Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, two sources with direct knowledge of the flotation said.

Other cornerstone investors include California's Standard Pacific Corp and Malaysian state-owned fund management firm Permodalan Nasional Bhd, the sources added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk publicly on the matter.

A term sheet seen by Reuters on Thursday said 54 percent of the institutional offering was allocated to local and international cornerstone investors, highlighting growing interest in Malaysian listings this year, and the emergence of Southeast Asian capital markets.

The portion of the IPO allocated to indigenous Malaysian investors was six times oversubscribed, according to the term sheet.

Palm oil firm Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd raised $3.3 billion when it listed in Kuala Lumpur in June, making it the world's third-largest IPO so far this year.

Cornerstones bought around 62 percent of IHH Healthcare Bhd's $2.1 billion Malaysia IPO in July, and Felda had orders from cornerstones for nearly one-third of its deal.

"Malaysia is a very different market," said Abdul Jalil Abdul Rasheed, who helps manage $3 billion as CEO of Aberdeen Islamic Asset Management in Kuala Lumpur. "Malaysia loves large IPOs so I think take up will be strong judging from previous issues."

Equity issuance in Malaysia stands at about $7.9 billion so far this year, compared with $3.9 billion in the whole of last year, and shares listed in this year's Malaysian IPOs have gained 17 percent on average since the companies were listed, according to Thomson Reuters publication IFR.

Astro, controlled by Malaysia's second-richest man Ananda Krishnan, is offering up to 1.52 billion shares in its IPO.

Based on an indicative price range of 2.70-3.00 ringgit per share, the total shares offered could be worth 4.1 billion-4.56 billion ringgit.

The company will open its institutional book on Thursday and close on Oct. 3, one of the sources added.

Ananda, who owns telecom and energy companies, is relisting Astro after it was privatised in 2010 in a deal that valued it at around 8.5 billion ringgit ($2.78 billion).

The deal is being handled by CIMB Group Holdings Bhd , Malayan Banking Bhd and RHB Capital Bhd . Several foreign banks are also advisers, including UBS AG, Credit Suisse Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. - Reuters

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