KAULA LUMPUR: Maxis, Malaysia’s top mobile operator, is tipped to receive a warm welcome back to the bourse this month in an IPO worth around $3.43 billion, billed as the biggest in Southeast Asian history.

Maxis Berhad, controlled by reclusive Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan and Saudi Telecom, is launching the initial public offering (IPO) on Bursa Malaysia two years after it was taken private and de-listed.

It is offering $2.25 billion, or 30 per cent, of its shares at an indicative price of 5.20 ringgit ($1.52) which would raise 11.7 billion ringgit. Most of the shares will go to institutional investors.

Parent company Maxis Communications is expected to deploy the proceeds of the sale, slated for November 19, on funding expansion in the booming Indian and Indonesian markets, and to reduce debt.

Economic pundits are upbeat about the listing despite the

uncertain global economic outlook that has soured other

recent share offerings in the region, but warn that the market remained unpredictable.

Yeah Kim Leng, chief economist with ratings agency

RAM Holdings, said that Maxis’ dominant position in the domestic telecoms industry had triggered an early rush to collect application forms. “Investors can smile. The listing is likely to be successful,” he said but added there were unlikely to be any hefty immediate profits. “The market is very volatile. It is not a sure bet. But the sentiment is strong for Maxis,” he said.

The listing includes only Maxis’ Malaysian mobile business and excludes its ventures in India and Indonesia which remain under Maxis Communications, the unlisted parent company.

Alliance Research said Maxis remains the leading mobile operator in Malaysia in both the prepaid and postpaid segments with some 11.4 million subscriptions as at end of the first half of 2009.

Its postpaid segment commands a thumping 46.4 percent of the local market share, but Alliance said the business had “limited growth prospects, without overseas operations”.