1.8 Billion IPO as Stocks Collapse Starts By Emaar MGF

Emaar MGF Land Ltd., controlled by the Middle East’s biggest real estate developer by market value, started its initial public offering in India today amid the biggest plunge in equities in almost four years.

“The market may go up, or come down, but there are fundamentals of a company and the long-term investors will look at that,'’ Shravan Gupta, executive vice chairman and managing director at Emaar MGF, said in an interview at an event in Mumbai. “We hope we will be seen in a long-term perspective.'’

Emaar MGF is seeking 70.8 billion rupees ($1.8 billion), in what would be the second largest IPO by an Indian real estate company. The developer will offer 102.6 million shares at 610 rupees to 690 rupees apiece, the New Delhi-based company said in a statement today.

India’s Sensitive Index had the steepest move among global benchmarks today on concern the U.S. will enter a recession and as investors placed funds in Reliance Power Ltd.’s record IPO. DLF Ltd. had its biggest fall since completing a record share sale by an Indian real estate company in June.

“Emaar would get enough demand to close the issue, but if one expects something like Reliance Power, they would be disappointed,'’ said Arun Kejriwal, director at research firm KRIS. “There’s enough money in the system to see the issue through, although the markets are off their peak.'’

Attracted Bids

The developer is seeking to sell shares amid an 8.7 percent drop in the National Stock Exchange’s 50-stock Nifty index and a 7.4 percent drop in the Sensex index.

Unitech Ltd., the second biggest developer by market value, fell 60.3 rupees, or 13 percent, to 414.55 rupees, while Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd. plunged 28 percent to 894.3 rupees.

Emaar MGF this month raised 1 billion rupees selling shares to state-run financial institution IFCI Ltd., New Delhi Television Ltd., and newspaper publisher Bennett Coleman & Co., Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Baweja told reporters.

Real estate firms raised a record $4 billion in share sales last year to benefit from growing demand for houses, offices and shops in an economy poised to grow at least 9 percent for a third year. That included $2.3 billion by DLF and fund raisings by Housing Development & Infrastructure and Puravankara Projects Ltd.

DLF got bids for 3.5 times the shares on sale, catapulting its promoter Kushal Pal Singh’s fortune to $35 billion, the wealthiest developer in the world, according to Fortune.

`Shortfall of Houses’

Reliance Power attracted $190 billion of bids for its IPO last week as a record economic expansion lured overseas investors to Indian shares.

Emaar MGF had 12,544 acres of land reserves as of August, of which it has development plans for 11,580 acres, the company said in its share sale documents.

The developer, a joint venture of Dubai-based Emaar Properties PJSC, and MGF Development Ltd. of India, is developing homes, offices, hotels and special economic zones and building the capital’s Commonwealth Games village.

“There’s a huge shortfall of houses,'’ said Gupta. “Our target is about 10,000 to 15,000 houses a year which we should be able to sell comfortably.'’

The government estimates India could face a shortfall of 26.5 million houses by 2012.

Set up in 2005, the company has projects in New Delhi, Mohali, Gurgaon, Dehradun, Hyderabad, and Pune. Emaar plans to set up 30,000 hotel rooms over eight years in different categories and is forming joint ventures with Hyatt Corp., Accor SA and Whitbread Plc, among others, Gupta said.

Emaar MGF hired Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co., Enam Financial Consultants Ltd. and Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. to help sell the shares. The offer will run Feb. 1 to Feb. 6.

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