India's Multi Commodity Exchange, the country's biggest commodity bourse by turnover, plans to list "sooner rather than later," after it got a regulatory nod for an initial share sale, a top executive said on Monday.
"We will try to do it sooner rather than later. At the same time there is no financial pressure on us as it is secondary," said Lamon Rutten, managing director, chief executive, MCX.
MCX, which will be the first Indian bourse to list shares on an exchange, will sell 6.43 million shares constituting a 12.6 per cent stake in the company through the IPO, chairman Venkat Chary had said in March.
Promoter Financial Technologies will sell a 5.18 per cent stake, while State Bank of India will sell a 4.14 per cent stake.
A host of Indian companies have postponed or scrapped their share sales as renewed fears of global recession have led to foreign investors moving their capital out to safer-haven assets. Indian shares have shed more than 19 per cent so far in the year.
"We still feel that timing is opportune. The weakness is more a consequence of international concerns and not of any concerns relating to India," said Rutten, adding investors will come back to India faster than they come back to other markets.
The company had postponed its share sale plans in 2008 due to weak market conditions, triggered by the closure of Lehman Brothers.
Rutten said "MCX has been growing very steadily, and had not been affected by the 2008 crises or any other events."
"We believe that the issue is very attractive to risk-averse retail investors and also to investors, who want exposure to India's future economic growth," Rutten added.
Shares of Financial Technologies gained as much as 5.8 per cent on Monday, before closing 1.51 per cent higher at Rs 788.
