Here is my two cents worth!

I've been following this company right from day 1 and have occasionally done business with them over the years.

The management has good vision and is excellent in execution.  The top management team has been together for a long time.  They seem to have borrowed Nararyan Murthy's play book.  Like Infy and unlike most other firms, they have been very generous in sharing their wealth with their employees. Employees (excluding poromoters) will own almost 20% of post issue capital!

Another similarity with Infy is their culture.  Just like Infy, they have managed to create a different organization spirit and culture.  You can feel the difference when you interact with them.  It is not just another investment bank.

Another characteristic that sets them apart from other financial services firms is their reliance on proprietary and arbitrage driven trading.  Here they seem to have modeled themselves consciously after Goldman Sachs.  Their research driven, arbitrage/pro trading really sets them apart.  No other Indian bank even comes close.

As has been pointed out by other readers, they have been concetrating on high margin Institutional business, besides pro trading.  Other verticals like AMC, private banking, etc. are  just becoming functional and are likely to contribute more as we go along.  In addition, given their business strategy, I won't be surprised if they enter the banking space within the next 12 to 18 months (through acquisition).

They have a well known set of FIIs as investors ... Lehman, Galleon and a couple of ex-Goldman partners.  FIIs will own 32% of their post issue capital.   As far as I can gather, none of them is ready to cash out yet.

Bottom line will grow by 100% in FY08, probably 80% in FY 09, and around 50% for a couple of years after that.   These are purely my guesstimates based on my own research.

In short, it has all the makings of a successful financial services company.  The IPO price is attractive.  However, given the current euphoria in the market, the listing could be any where between Rs.1600 - 1800. 

   Really unfortunate that hype (given the comparisons with market cap of Goldman Sachs and others  that will come)will rule on listing....else would have been a great buy on listing.....may still be!

Edited by Ajith - 16/Nov/2007 at 4:49pm

great management, great co, great work culture  everything may be true but in the stock market evrything comes at a price and at a certain value.many a times we have ended up buying a great co at the wrong price

Edelweiss founders Rashesh Shah, now 41, and Venkat Ramaswamy pair pooled $250,000 they'd collected from their families and while working together at Icici Bank and founded Edelweiss. Edelweiss has lost none of its 16 senior managers in the last five years.(CNN)