India's Essar Energy raises £1.3bn and joins FTSE 100

Essar Energy of India was catapulted into the FTSE 100 yesterday as an initial public offering brought in £1.3bn and gave the group a market capitalisation of £5.5bn.

The IPO was the London market's biggest since December 2007. Essar cut its price yesterday morning, asking 420p per share rather than between 450p to 550p. The company said the book was fully covered at the higher price but it took the pragmatic decision given recent volatility in the market.

The chairman Shashi Ruia, who controls Essar Group with his brother Ravi, said: "We have been humbled by the interest shown from a broad range of high quality, blue-chip international institutional investors. They have shown a very high interest in the Indian growth story."