[LONDON] Olam International has added a raft of additional banks to work on London initial public offering of its food unit, which could value the business at US$17.7 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Singapore-based agri-business has appointed Berenberg, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse Group, Deutsche Bank, Mizuho Financial Group., Cooperatieve Rabobank and Kepler Cheuvreux as bookrunners, the people said. The IPO is being led by Citigroup, HSBC, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, according to the people.

Olam could look to raise about £2 billion (S$3.65 billion) from the listing, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. The company has been planning for an IPO of the business in the first half.

Deliberations are ongoing and no final decision on the size of timing of the IPO have been taken, according to the people. A representative for Kepler Cheuvreux couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Representatives for Olam and the other banks declined to comment, or didn't immediately provide comment.

The listing of Olam's food unit would help boost London's flagging IPO market. The UK capital has hosted just one IPO of more than US$50 million this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. At US$280 million, London's haul is a fraction of the US$4.4 billion that companies had raised in the UK at this point a year ago, the data show.

Risk appetite has dried up across the board as concerns about geopolitical tensions in Europe exacerbate the pressure exerted on equity markets by tightening monetary policy. Added to that, IPO investors have also had to contend with poor returns from some of last year's large London listings, keeping them on the sidelines. BLOOMBERG

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