HONG KONG, June 23 (Reuters) - Vodafone Group islikely to file a draft prospectus for the planned IPO of itsIndian business in August with the listing expected in thefourth quarter, in a deal seen raising as much as $2.5 billion,people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The British telecoms group, India's largest mobile operatorafter Bharti Airtel, has begun work on the prospectusthat would incorporate the Indian unit's financials for thefirst half of the calendar year, they said.
Vodafone hired Bank of America Corp, India's KotakInvestment Banking, UBS AG in April as globalcoordinators for the IPO, set to be India's biggest stock marketlisting since 2010..
A London-based Vodafone spokesman declined to comment on thetimeline, saying the potential India IPO was a "lengthy process"and no decision would be made until the company was at the endof it. Sources declined to be identified as the information isnot public. (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee and Elzio Barreto; Editing byDenny Thomas and Susan Fenton)