Hyundai plans to list India business unit in one of country’s biggest IPOs

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Hyundai is planning to list its Indian business in what is set to be one of the biggest-ever public offerings in India amid rising car ownership and soaring equity markets in the world’s fastest-growing large economy.

The South Korean automaker will sell up to 142mn shares, or 17.5 per cent, of its holding in Hyundai Motor India on local exchanges, according to the draft prospectus seen by the Financial Times.

The filing, lodged with India’s capital markets regulator on Saturday, did not specify pricing. The offering is expected to raise about $2.5bn, valuing the company at around $25bn, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The sale could eclipse the $2.45bn IPO of the state-owned Life Insurance Corp of India in 2022, the nation’s biggest float to date.

Hyundai’s listing plans come off the back of booming demand for vehicles from hatchbacks to SUVs in India, the world’s third-largest car market. The auto industry accounts for about 7 per cent of India’s economy and sales in the last financial year hit a record 4.2mn units.

Since 1998 Hyundai, India’s second-largest auto company by sales, has sold almost 12mn passenger vehicles domestically and by export, according to the prospectus.

The listing is likely to be scheduled around the Hindu festival of Diwali at the end of October, depending on regulatory processes and market conditions, the person familiar with the matter said.

A spokesperson for Hyundai’s Indian arm declined to comment. In a regulatory filing in February, the parent group said: “We are reviewing various activities including the listing of an overseas unit to boost corporate value.”

Kim Kwang-soo, an analyst at LS Securities in Seoul, wrote in a report that Hyundai would raise about Won3tn-Won4tn ($2.2bn-$2.9bn) in the IPO and use the proceeds to increase capacity at its Indian plants. He estimated that India accounts for about 8 per cent of Hyundai’s net profits.

Kranti Bathini, director of equity strategy at WealthMills Securities in Mumbai, described the prospective listing as “big news for India” due to Hyundai’s scale in the country.

India’s “market has been quite strong and there’s a lot of liquidity at this point of time”, Bathini said. “There’s positive sentiment in India, you see both the [benchmark] indices forming everyday all-time highs and auto sales have been quite good in the past two years.”

Hyundai’s offering is the latest in a spate of listings in India this year as strong domestic demand has sent the country’s stock market to record levels, overtaking Hong Kong’s index in market capitalisation. So far this year, 112 companies have come to India’s equities markets, compared with 179 in the whole of 2023, according to data provider Tracxn.

“India is poised to witness an extraordinary surge in IPOs,’’ said Neha Singh, the Bengaluru-based co-founder of Tracxn.

“Many promising companies, previously contemplating listings, have hastened their IPO schedules to capitalise on this buoyant market,” she said, pointing to upcoming listings by electric scooter maker Ola Electric and food delivery firm Swiggy, as well as subsidiaries of global multinationals.