> Reliance IPO: Receives great response!!

The mega initial public issue of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's Reliance Power became the largest ever in India after over-subscription of more than 10.5 times on its opening day on Tuesday.

Offered at a price band of Rs.405-450 for 228 million shares at a face value of Rs 10 each, the issue invited bids for 2,397,558,825 shares, data available with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.

The issue closes on January 18.

While institutional buyers were required to pay 10 per cent of the subscription money on application, retail investors had to pay Rs 115, which is around 25 per cent of the issue price.

In addition, Ambani and his associates bought the promoters' stake of 32 million shares at Rs 450 per share on the opening day. Thirty percent of the 228 million shares have been reserved for retail investors at a discount of 5 per cent.

"Within minutes of its opening, the issue was fully subscribed and by the time it ended at 5 pm, the issue had been oversubscribed some 10.54 times," said a senior official at one of the lead book running firms for the issue.

Movement on bourses

The over-subscription came on a day when the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange shed 476.96 points, or 2.30 percent, at 20,251.09 points.

"It seems like people sold some stocks for the public issue," said an analyst with a leading brokerage here, as every index, including those for small-caps and mid-caps, on the BSE ended in the red.

Power generation

Reliance Power proposes to use the funds to build power generation units across the country with the funds. As per company officials, projects worth 28,000 MW are in the pipeline.

"This is the largest portfolio of power generation within a geographical area or a group anywhere in the world," Ambani said earlier. The government envisages an addition of 80,000 MW in the 11th plan (2007-2012).

The company, which is an associate of Reliance Energy, was in November awarded the 4,000-MW Krishnapatnam power project in Andhra Pradesh, with the lowest bid for a tariff of Rs.2.33 per unit among all qualified bidders.

Another major project of the company was the 4,000-MW Sasan power project in Madhya Pradesh, awarded in August.

The largest bank in the US has announced record net losses of almost $10bn, mainly stemming from its involvement in the high-interest, or "sub-prime," mortgage crisis that has shaken financial institutions around the world.

Citigroup said that 4,200 staff would lose their jobs after the bank lost more than $18bn in mortgage-related loans.

Vikram Pandit, Citigroup's chief executive, said the company's losses, which were for the last three months of 2007, were "clearly unacceptable".

Sub-prime home loans were issued to people from the US on low incomes in a housing boom that has since declined, leaving many unable to repay them.