L&T Infotech Ltd, the technology services unit of engineering firm Larsen & Toubro Ltd, on Tuesday refiled its draft red herring prospects (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for an initial public offering.
The move comes a day after India’s biggest engineering firm said the unit had decided to withdraw the DRHP due to a change in the offer structure and “other considerationsâ€.
L&T Infotech had first filed its DRHP with the capital markets regulator in September. SEBI cleared the IPO proposal in January.
The changes in the offer structure weren’t immediately clear. According to L&T’s stock-exchange filing on Tuesday, the issue comprises an offer for sale of 17.5 million shares; the DRHP filed in September mentioned the same number of shares.
D Morada, vice president at L&T and the company’s spokesperson, declined to comment when contacted by phone after office hours. Earlier in the day, Morada had told VCCircle in an email that one of the reasons for withdrawing the DRHP was that market conditions were not right to float the IPO.
L&T Infotech is the sixth-largest Indian IT firm by export revenue. It reported Rs 4,968 crore revenue and Rs 510 crore net profit for the financial year ended March 31, 2015.
Weak markets
For IPOs, 2015 was a big year with 21 companies hitting the market and two of every three firms beating the 30-stock benchmark Sensex.
But benchmark indices have lost a fifth of their value due to a sharp retreat in the secondary market over the past few months. This has not just wiped out all gains in benchmark indices since the BJP-led government took charge in May 2014 but has also shaken the nerves of companies planning to tap into the primary market.
About a half-dozen firms have either withdrawn their IPO application or have let their approval lapse. However, several firms are moving ahead with their IPO plans and some have also had a bumper reception. Last week, microfinance firm Equitas saw more than 16 times oversubscription for its IPO.
