BSE Limited on Friday, filed for an Initial Public Offering, with a view to have its shares listed on the wider National Stock Exchange, Reuters reported. Formerly known as Bombay Stock Exchange Limited, Asia's oldest exchange delayed this decision as the rules on the procedure were not too clear, officials said. BSE Limited could raise up to Rs 1,300 crore from the sale of shares.

With more than 5,900 companies, the exchange has the largest number of listings across the globe. But in terms of trade value, the NSE is a bigger player, particularly since the newly-incorporated concept of derivatives raised liquidity in large caps. Out of BSE's 107.35 million shares, 52.3 million shares or 48.7% are owned by trading members, while the remainder come under the purview of Deutsche Boerse AG, Singapore Exchange, foreign portfolio investors and others.

The IPO's draft prospectus indicates that several shareholders, including Singapore Exchange, will sell up to 29.96 million shares, or a 27.9% stake in the IPO. The current spurt in IPOs is a result of a relatively stable stock market in the country. The trend of investors quickly acquiring listings has helped debutantes such as Ujjivan Financial Services perform exceedingly well, Reuters reported.

The exchange showed a total income of 1.65 billion rupees and net profit of 527 million rupees for the quarter till the end of June. The NSE had announced its decision to filed for an IPO within the country and abroad in June. Axis, Edelweiss, Jefferies and Nomura are the joint global coordinators in the BSE IPO, the news agency said.