The DLF IPO is all set to hit the Indian Capital Markets. DLF has finally obtained the clearance from SEBI for its mega IPO. DLF had filed its first IPO prospectus last year but failed to get clearance from SEBI after a dispute with its minority shareholders. After the dispute had been settled, DLF filed its second prospectus earlier this year. DLF IPO has been much awaited IPO. It is likely to be the largest IPO in India beating earlier records set by the ONGC IPO and Reliance Petroleum IPO. Will the 10,000 crore DLF IPO be successful? Only time will tell. More updates on the DLF IPO will be posted in the coming days. Post IPO, DLF Universal will list both on the NSE and the BSE and will be eligible for trading in the Futures and Options segment. For the DLF IPO allotment status, listing date, subscription details, IPO refund date and all updates relating to DLF IPO issue, do check this space regularly. The size of the total DLF IPO issue, at the price band of 500 - 550, will be between Rs. 8750 crores and Rs 9625 crores. Merrill Lynch & Co and Kotak Mahindra Capital are the global lead managers for the DLF IPO issue and Citigroup, ICICI Securities, UBS AG, Deutsche Equities India, SBI Capital Market are the other lead managers.

DLF IPO LOT SIZE

DLF Universal has fixed the lot size for the IPO. The DLF IPO lot size is 10 shares. Retail Investors applying in the DLF IPO can apply for a minimum of 10 shares or a maximum of 180 shares.

DLF IPO’s Grey Market Price / Premium : In the grey market for IPO issues in Ahmedabad and neighbouring cities, DLF has been trading at a premium of Rs. 20-40 on the eventual IPO issue price. To put things into perspective lets compare and contrast the DLF IPO issues’ premium with that of other companies. Sobha Developers, another real estate company got an 18% premium for its IPO in November 2006. Comparing the DLF IPO with the Reliance Petroleum IPO, which was similar in size to the DLF IPO, RPL commanded a premium of over 50% in the grey market. Decolite Ceramics IPO is trading at a premium of Rs. 7 in the grey market on a price band of Rs. 45 to 54.  Compared with all these IPO issues, the current premium of around 6% on the issue price of DLF is very low. This is a good indication that investors feel that the DLF IPO pricing is very aggressive and probably overvalued. Activity in the grey market usually heats up a week before the listing date of IPO. Lets hope that the DLF IPO commands more premium in the grey market in due course.

DLF IPO Valuation:

DLF Universal’s Earnings per share (EPS), excluding DLF’s one time profit on sale of assets to another promoter group company, works out to Rs 3.31 on DLF’s post issue equity capital of Rs. 340.88 crores. On the lower price band of Rs. 500, the price earnings ratio (P/E) stands at an astonishing 152 times, and on the upper price band of Rs. 550 the PE ratio works out to a whooping 167 times. Parsvnath Developers is currently trading around Rs. 320 per share on a PE of 19 times its FY 2007 consolidated earning. Unitech, which has a land bank comparable to DLF, quoting around Rs 605, trades at a PE of 37.5 its FY 2007 consolidated earning. Clearly the DLF issue is highly overpriced. One can consider investing in Unitech which is trading cum bonus, instead of investing in the DLF IPO. However, the hype surrounding the DLF issue (I have already received 3 calls from brokers asking me if i was interested in applying for the DLF IPO) and the big investment banks managing the DLF IPO issue might lead to the issue being oversubscribed by atleast 3-5 times.

DLF IPO opens for Subscription on June 11, 2007 and closes for Subscription on June 14, 2007
DLF IPO Price Band has been fixed between Rs. 500 (floor Price) and Rs. 550 (Cap Price)