Malaysia's Astro institutional offer 20 times oversubscribed-sources

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The institutional offer of Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd's $1.5 billion initial share sale has been oversubscribed by more than 20 times, two sources with knowledge of the deal said on Friday.

The institutional offering of up to 315.75 million shares, or 20.8 percent of the total offering, has been mostly subscribed at the higher end of an indicative price range of 2.70-3.00 ringgit per share, the sources said.

Based on the indicative range, the total 1.52 billion shares offered could be worth 4.1 billion-4.56 billion ringgit ($1.33 billion-$1.48 billion), according to Reuters calculations. The institutional book is expected to close on Oct. 3, with listing scheduled on Oct. 19, according to its prospectus.

Astro is controlled by Malaysia's second-richest man Ananda Krishnan, who has investments in telecom and energy assets.

The deal is being handled by CIMB Group Holdings Bhd , Malayan Banking Bhd and RHB Capital Bhd . Several foreign banks are also advisers, including UBS AG, Credit Suisse Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co