NSE slashes IPO valuation target 15% as world's biggest options boom fades

By Rajesh Mascarenhas, Chiranjivi Chakraborty and Samie Modak As executives at the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. pitched their long-awaited initial public offering to global investors, one question kept coming up: How would the bourse keep growing after regulators curbed its booming derivatives business? Without that growth engine, investors at meetings in Hong Kong, London and New York expressed concern that the valuation NSE was seeking - roughly $55 billion - was just too high, according to people who attended the meetings. That investor pressure ultimately forced NSE executives to slash the maximum valuation they're seeking when they launch the IPO next week by about 15 per cent, other people involved in the deal said, requesting anonymity as the information is private.