MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, Aug 12: Six investment bankers have bagged the mandates for global offerings of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL).

Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and HSBC Investment Banking Corporation have been selected to lead manage MTNL's global offering (including divestment of government's holding) while Jardine Fleming, BZW and Morgan Stanley will jointly lead manage the global offering of GAIL.

In an intense competition, as many as 35 global investment bankers had pitched in for these two prized mandates. Two rounds of presentations were made by these investment bankers. The first one was for MTNL in mid-May followed by presentations for GAIL last month.

MTNL's global offering is said to be of around $800 million -- the largest from India till date. This according to informed sources, comprises fresh issue of 60 million shares, in addition to divestment of 47 million existing shares held by the government.

GAIL's global offering is expected to be of around $400 million. After a tough scrutiny of the various presentations, the decision of the core group (handling the divestment of government's holding in select PSUs) is said to have been taken last evening in New Delhi.

However, concerned investment bankers are yet to be intimated officially. Repeated efforts to reach top officials of MTNL in New Delhi failed to get any official confirmation. However, the market was today abuzz with names of the final winners.

``There is a considerable demand for good Indian papers in the overseas market,'' said an executive from one of the winners brigade. ``Both these issues could sell well provided of course, they are offered within a reasonable time frame,'' he added.

Further, these issues will open doors for global offerings of highly select Indian corporates, investment bankers feel. The list could include those companies which were forced to defer their global offerings following prolonged bearishness since the past two years.

Research analysts have been upbeat on both these companies. In its recent report on MTNL, Natwest Markets Securities Ltd said `private competition for MTNL is still a good two years away... Given the expected 1.5 per cent decline in average revenue/DEL and a fall in MTNL's tax rate, we expect earnings to grow at 25 per cent CAGR in FY9799.

As regards GAIL, Natwest said: Gas Authority of India Ltd has 96.7 per cent government holding, has the strongest balance sheet from among the list of some 12 global gas companies.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.