Malaysia's biggest mobile operator Maxis has secured four cornerstone investors who will buy 28 percent of its roughly $3.7 billion initial public offering, Southeast Asia's largest in over a decade.

Three Malaysian state pension funds are among the investors along with U.S. investment giant Fidelity, the company and its advisers said on Wednesday.

The cornerstone investors will take up the shares at up to 5.20 ringgit each, said CIMB Group Chief Executive Nazir Razak at the launch of the IPO prospectus. CIMB is one of the joint global coordinators for the deal.

Maxis, when listed, will have a market capitalisation of 39 billion ringgit ($11.4 billion) based on 5.20 ringgit a share, he said.

The listing of Maxis comes just two years after reclusive Malaysian billionaire Ananda Krishnan took the company private in a 40 billion ringgit deal.

The re-listing is a stripped-down version because it will house just the Malaysian business, leaving the fast-growing Indian and Indonesian operations with its unlisted parent Maxis Communications Bhd.

Some investors criticised the initial pricing of the deal as being too aggressive and it is coming at a time when demand for IPOs in Asia has soured slightly.

South Korea's POSCO Engineering & Construction last week cancelled its planned $926 million offering, citing disappointing bookbuilding, while Chinese property developer Excellence Real Estate Group Ltd on Wednesday shelved plans for an up to $1 billion Hong Kong IPO due to market conditions.

The indicative price for the offering of 2.25 billion shares was set at 4.80-5.50 ringgit.

The retail tranche has been tentatively priced at 5.20 ringgit each, but CIMB said the final price will be determined after the book-building process.

The listing is targeted for Nov. 19.

CIMB, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs are the joint global coordinators and are joint bookrunners with JP Morgan, Nomura, and UBS for the deal.

($1=3.42 ringgit)

(Reporting by Julie Goh and Soo Ai Peng; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

South Korea Investment