LG India’s bankers hauled in higher fees than Tata’s bigger IPO

Koo Kwang-mo, chairman of LG Group, second right, rings a bell during LG Electronics India Ltd.'s listing ceremony at the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai on October 14. Bloomberg

Tata Capital Ltd. just completed India’s biggest initial public offering of the year but it turns out that LG Electronics India Ltd.’s smaller deal was the more lucrative job for the banks.

According to both prospectuses, LG paid about Rs 226 crore ($26 million) to five banks for its $1.3 billion IPO, while Tata handed Rs 159 crore in fees to 10 arrangers for its $1.7 billion deal. That works out to about Rs 45 crore for each of LG’s banks, almost triple the average for Tata.

Both companies began trading in Mumbai this week, with Tata rising 1.4% on its opening day, and LG popping 48% in India’s best debut for a deal of that size. LG’s IPO was so popular it ended up being the country’s most oversubscribed billion-dollar offering in 17 years.

LG’s arrangers were Axis Bank Ltd., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley.

Tata’s army of sponsors were Axis, BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup, HDFC Bank Ltd., HSBC Holdings Plc, ICICI Securities, IIFL Capital Ltd., JPMorgan, Kotak Mahindra Co. and SBI Capital Markets Ltd.