iEnergizer Ltd., a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm in India has hit the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), the junior market of London Stock Exchange to raise money. The company, also the first Indian BPO firm to float an IPO at AIM, has already raised $57 million, with the current market capitalization standing at approximately at $268 million. With an opening day market cap of plus $250 million, this also makes iEnergizer one of the five largest IPOs on AIM so far this year.
AIM head Marcus Stuttard who was recently on a trip to India had told VCCircle that Indian companies registered a 212% increase (in the price-performance index) last year in 2009. Stuttard, who was essentially here to understand the performance of the promoters and build the future pipeline, had said "We did see a couple of fund raisings last year. In 2008, 18% of the fund-raising at AIM was by Indian companies. That aligned with the performance indices of the Indian companies this year demonstrates a healthy investor appetite.We see a lot of corporate interest and we expect to see a lot of fund-raising by Indian companies at AIM".
iEnergizer is a full service BPO firm providing back office support in banking, financial services, insurance, entertainment and telecommunications to companies based predominantly in the USA, Australia and India. Arden Partners is acting as the Nominated Adviser (NOMAD) and Broker. AIM follows a strategy of appointing corporate finance houses or investment bankers called the Nominated Advisors (Nomads) on to the corporates being listed on their markets. These nominated advisors have to work with corporates, look after their finances, due diligence and are held responsible for all their admission documents. Before any companies get listed on the AIM, these institutional investors look at the track record of the corporates.
There are currently 67 Indian or India focussed companies on the London Stock Exchange’s markets, which have collectively raised $7.5 billion. A record £82.5 billion was raised through new and further issues of equity on the London Stock Exchange during 2009. Over $10 billion has been raised by IPOs in London so far in 2010, with Indian companies accounting for over $2 billion.
