The Hindu Business Line : IPO price band at Rs 63-70 — NDTV to seek new broadcasting vistas

NDTV, which is entering the capital market to raise Rs 109 crore through an initial public offer, will look at new opportunities in broadcasting but the emphasis in the initial years will be the news channels, Dr Pranoy Roy, Chairman, NDTV, said.

According to him, there is further potential for growth in the genre of news channels as advertising as a percentage of GDP continues to be small in India.

The IPO which will be a combination of fresh issue and dilution of issue will be through the book-building route and at a price band of Rs 63-70 per share.

NDTV 24x7, the English news channel, has been able to emerge as the leader in its category while NDTV India, the Hindi channel, has come up to the second slot in its category, Dr Roy said.

He acknowledged that the genre of news broadcasting was competitive but NDTV focusses on its people as its strength.

NDTV's issue opens on April 21 and closes on April 28.

The book-running lead managers to the issue are J M Morgan Stanley Pvt Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Capital and ICICI Securities.

Shareholders making offers are GS Television Holdings, GS Media Holdings, GS Communications Hondings, Saffron Fund, JF India Fund, JP Morgan Fleming India Investment Company (Mauritius) Ltd and SBI Capital Markets Ltd's India Magnum Fund NV Mutual Fund.

Of the Rs 109 crore issue, Rs 9 crore has been reserved for employees of NDTV.