Franklin Templeton Investments on Thursday is believed to have bid for 11 lakh (1.1 million) IBP shares, shelling out approximately Rs 70 crore (Rs 700 million). Sources close to the development said Franklin bid at approximately Rs 636.36 per share.

While only 1,55,490 shares were bid on the National Stock Exchange till Wednesday, the IBP counter saw massive interest today with total bids going up to 29,84,810 shares.

When contacted, Franklin Templeton's official spokesperson from Chennai refused to comment saying, "We can not comment as its a market related issue."

IBP was the first the PSU for which the government had filed the prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to offer 26 per cent equity. The IBP issue opened on February 23, 2003, and will close on March 1, 2004.

According to the latest information available on the National Stock Exchange website, IBP has registered bids of 29,84,810 shares against the issue offer of 57,58,290 shares.

While the Templeton bid is very much close to the floor price of Rs 620, fixed by the government at the time of opening of the issue, the highest bid is for Rs 750 per share.

ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company are the book-running lead managers. The offer is being made through the 100 per cent book-building process wherein a maximum of 50 per cent of the offer shall be offered on a discretionary basis to qualified institutional buyers.

Further, not less than 25 per cent of the offer shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to retail bidders, subject to valid bids being received at or above offer price.