Reliance Power says no pre-IPO placement

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"A number of people had requested for a pre-IPO placement but ... we will stick to our filed prospectus and there will be no pre-IPO placement," Ambani told a news conference.

The company, part of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, will offer 228 million shares to the public constituting 10.1 percent of the post-issue capital, at an indicated price band of 405-450 rupees ($10.3-$11.45) each.

At the upper end of the price band, the sale would give the company a market value of $30 billion, making it India's 11th most valuable ahead of software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services.

Reliance Power is 50 percent owned by utility Reliance Energy Ltd, with the remainder held through other group companies.

The IPO will be open from Jan. 15 to Jan. 18 and Ambani said the company was hoping to make its debut on the stock exchanges in the first week of February.

Last July, real estate firm DLF Ltd had raised $2.25 billion in India's biggest IPO to date.

Ambani said Reliance Power would use the proceeds of the share sale to part-finance construction and development costs of its coal, gas and hydro-fired power projects in the energy hungry nation that is riding an economic boom.

"We have close to 28,000 megawatts of projects under various phases of implementation. We believe the journey has just begun for Reliance Power," Ambani said.

The group, whose activities also span telecoms, financials, infrastructure and entertainment, plans to offer up to 30 percent of the IPO to retail clients, 10 percent to wealthy investors and 60 percent to institutional investors.

The IPO was expected to hit the market late last year, but was delayed due to regulatory issues.

Last week, India's market regulator disposed off a complaint against the IPO, and directed the group's preferential quota in the offering be locked-in for five years from the date of allotment.

Reliance Power has reserved 32 million shares for allotment to the founders, making the total offering 260 million shares.

The Anil Ambani group was formed two years ago after he split with elder brother Mukesh, who controls India's top listed firm, Reliance Industries Ltd.

POWER PLAY

Analysts said India suffers huge power shortages with more than 400 million of its billion-plus people having no access to electricity.

"There is unlimited potential in the power sector," said Ambani, whose Reliance Energy supplies electricity to parts of Mumbai and New Delhi.

The International Energy Agency, which advises the world's developed countries on energy matters, recently said India needed investment worth $1.25 trillion in energy infrastructure by 2030.

Shares in stablemate Reliance Energy more than quadrupled in 2007, outpacing a 47.1 percent rise in the benchmark BSE index on a robust outlook for energy companies.

The shares have gained a further 17.6 percent since Dec. 31, even after ending down 0.3 percent at 2,510 rupees on Friday.

The issue is managed by UBS, ABN AMRO, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Enam Securities, ICICI Securities, JM Financial and Kotak Mahindra Capital.

Macquarie and SBI Capital Markets are co-managers.

Indian firms raised $8.2 billion from 88 IPOs in 2007, data from Thomson Financial showed, compared with $4.7 billion in 2006.