WNS, previously a part of the UK-based airline giant British Airways, will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday following a successful initial public offering of its American Depository Shares, in which the company raised over Rs 1000 crore ($224 million).
WNS (Holdings) Limited, the parent company of leading offshore business process outsourcing provider WNS Global Services, said that it has priced the IPO of more than 11.2 million ADSs at a price of $20 per ADS.
The IPO has been priced at the upper end of the price band of $18-20 per ADS, as proposed by the company previously, and has beaten the market expectations.
The company would attract an initial market capitalisation of nearly $800 million (Rs 3,700 crore), based on the IPO price of $20 per ADS.
The company's ADSs would begin public trading on the NYSE on July 26 under the symbol 'WNS'.
On Tuesday, the company raised the IPO size from 10.4 million shares to 11.2 million shares, due to an increase in the shares offered by the selling shareholders.
Of the total offering of 11,202,708 ADSs (with each representing the right to receive one ordinary share of WNS (Holdings) Ltd sold in the offering, 4,473,684 ADSs were sold by the company, while 6,729,024 ADSs were sold by other shareholders including British Airways.
WNS plans to use the net proceeds from the IPO for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures and working capital, and for possible acquisitions of businesses and delivery platforms. WNS will not receive any proceeds from the sale of ADSs by the selling shareholders.
Morgan Stanley & Co International Limited, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated were the joint book runners of the offering. Citigroup Global Markets Inc and UBS Securities LLC served as co-managers.
Certain selling shareholders, including Warburg Pincus, have granted to the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 1,561,000 ADSs to cover over-allotments.
Meanwhile, the company said in a regulatory filing in the US that British Airways, one of the selling shareholders, has decided to sell 5,160,000 ordinary shares in the offering, representing its entire current shareholding in our company.
The company had said in its preliminary prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that British Airways has offered to sell sell 4,386,000 ordinary shares in the IPO.
Previously, the selling shareholders were estimated to sell 6 million shares in the issue, which was raised to 6.7 million shares, the company said in an amended SEC filing on Tuesday.
WNS had reported net income of $18.3 million with revenue of $203 million in the fiscal year ended March 31, as against a loss of $5.8 million and revenue of $162.2 million in the previous year.
Of the total offering of 11,202,708 ADSs (with each representing the right to receive one ordinary share of WNS (Holdings) Ltd sold in the offering, 4,473,684 ADSs were sold by the company, while 6,729,024 ADSs were sold by other shareholders including British Airways.
