ASIA: Indian Paper Maker Launches Program

Global Finance, Jan 2004 by Platt, Gordon

Deutsche Bank announced the establishment of a sponsored Regulation S and Rule 144A global depositary receipt program for Ballarpur Industries, a Mumbai-based paper producer.

Ballarpur is India's largest manufacturer of writing and printing paper, with a market share of about 18% in the country's fragmented paper industry.

The company has paper mills at four locations, as well as a pulp mill, giving it an advantage in covering a majority of the large Indian market, according to Deutsche Bank.

Ballarpur distributes its products to all parts of India, using more than 112 distributors, most of whom work on an exclusive basis for the company.

The GDRs issued under Regulation S trade on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, while the Rule 144A issue trades on the NASD's PORTAL, which stands for Private Offerings, Resales and Trading through Automated Linkages. One GDR is equivalent to five of Ballarpur's ordinary shares.

-Gordon Platt