BSE has selected 14 investment bankers for its forthcoming IPO slated during the first half of 2013

Mumbai: Premier stock exchange BSE moved closer to its initial public offering (IPO) plan by selecting 14 investment banks, including Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Barclays and UBS, for a public issue that is slated to hit the markets in the first half of next year, reports PTI quoting a top official.

"Yes, we have selected 14 investment bankers for our forthcoming IPO slated for the first half of 2013," BSE Chief Executive and Managing Director Ashish Kumar Chauhan told PTI.

The other lead managers to the issue include domestic majors including Kotak Mahindra Capital, ICICI Securities, Edelweiss Capital, Axis Capital, and IIFL, Chauhan added.

The BSE, which had reported a net profit of Rs178 crore on a revenue of Rs578 crore last fiscal, will be second bourse to get listed after Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) made its debut in March this year.

He did not divulge the details of the issue saying the investment bankers will decide on the pricing and issue size.

BSE is seeking an offering that would value it at about Rs4,000-Rs5,000 crore, sources close to the development said.

The BSE has opted for the public issue to give an exit route to existing shareholders, who hold over 41% stake in the exchange.

The IPO could fetch Rs800-Rs1,000 crore, they added.

At Rs5,000 crore, BSE's valuation would be at a 37% discount to MCX's current market capitalisation of Rs7,881 crore.

Late last month, in an interview to PTI Chauhan had said that the oldest Asian bourse, had appointed a committee to finalise the i-bankers.

The BSE had in October once again retained the No1 slot as the world's largest exchange in terms of number of companies listed last month.