Malaysia's Maxis eyes $3.4 bln in IPO

By Julie Goh and Saeed Azhar

KUALA LUMPUR/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Maxis Bhd, Malaysia's biggest mobile operator, is set to raise as much as $3.4 billion in Southeast Asia's biggest initial public offering, after strong demand helped it tighten an indicative price range.

The IPO bucks a faltering market across India, China and Australia, where the primary equity window that saw a big revival two quarters ago is beginning to quickly shut.

The listing comes just two years after Maxis was taken private by reclusive Malaysian billionaire owner, Ananda Krishnan, who owns telecom assets in India and Indonesia.

Maxis is seeking to price the shares between 5.00 to 5.20 ringgit a share ($1.48-$1.54) versus the previous range of 4.80-5.50 ringgit ($1.42-$1.63), sources familiar with the deal told Reuters on Monday.

This means the IPO could raise between 11.25 billion-11.7 billion ringgit ($3.3 billion-$3.4 billion) for its parent, which is selling 30 percent of its existing share capital to reduce debt and finance operations in India and Indonesia.

Maxis spokeswoman Catherine Leong declined comment and CIMB, part of the global bookrunners, was not immediately available to comment.

Maxis' valuation, at a price to earnings multiple of 16 times on 2009 earnings, based on a share price of 5.20 ringgit, is lofty but fund managers may be inclined to own the stock due to its weight in Malaysia's benchmark stock index, said Pankaj Kumar, chief investment officer at local insurer Kurnia Insuran.

Kurnia is bidding for Maxis shares.