Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) has filed papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to float an initial public offering or IPO of over 178 crore shares. As per the draft red herring prospectus filed with Sebi on Friday, the IPO would see the sale of 1,782,069,000 equity shares, which includes a fresh issue of 1,188,046,000 equity shares and an offer for sale of 59.4 crore equity shares by the Government of India.

The net proceeds are proposed to be used towards expanding the company’s equity capital base to meet future capital requirements arising out of growth in business and general corporate purposes. DAM Capital Market Advisors, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, ICICI Securities and SBI Capital Markets are managing the offer.

Earlier in January, Indian Railway Finance Corporation had filed draft papers for IPO, which comprised a fresh issue of 93.8 crore equity shares and an offer for sale of 46.9 crore equity shares by the Government of India. The Union Cabinet had in April 2017 approved listing of five railway companies. While four of them viz IRCON International Ltd, RITES Ltd, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp, have already been listed, IRFC is likely to be put on the block by this year-end. The govt has set a target of raising Rs 2.1 lakh crore through divestment in current fiscal. This includes Rs 1.20 lakh crore through CPSE stake sale, and the remaining Rs 90,000 crore from financial institutions.

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