India's JSW Energy plans $1 billion IPO - source

(For India IPO diary and data, click <IN/IPOMENU>)

MUMBAI, Jan 3 (Reuters) - India's JSW Energy Ltd aims to raise up to $1 billion from an initial public offering, a banking source close to the deal said on Thursday, a sale which would follow Reliance Power's planned raising of nearly $3 billion.

JSW Energy, a unit of the JSW Group, plans to dilute less than 20 percent of its capital in an issue that could raise 30-40 billion rupees ($760 million-$1 billion), the source said.

The company planned to file initial documents with the market regulator "in a couple of weeks", the source said.

JM Financial (JMSH.BO), Kotak Mahindra Capital and SBI Capital Markets are among the issue managers, the source said.

A spokeswoman for JSW Group declined comment.

JSW Energy operates two thermal power units of 130 MW each, and has signed an agreement with the western Gujarat state for a 1,000 MW power plant, its Web site showed.

The firm also plans power projects in the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, and to expand into the hydropower and transmission sectors, it showed.

The JSW Energy issue will follow the proposed IPO of Reliance Power Ltd, which is seeking to raise up to $2.97 billion in the country's biggest IPO yet. For more details, double-click [ID:nBOM33977]

Indian firms raised a record $8.3 billion from 89 IPOs in 2007, according to Thomson Financial data, compared with $4.7 billion in 2006, helped by a booming stock market.

The unprecedented pace helped India grab 2.7 percent of the global IPO market, up from 1.8 percent the previous year, and to the ninth spot on the ranking of IPO markets, the data showed. ($1=39.4 rupees) (Reporting by Rina Chandran, additional reporting by Arpan Mukherjee; Editing by John Mair)