MUMBAI: Eros International Media‘s (EIML) Rs 3.5-billion initial public offering (IPO) has been oversubscribed 26.51 times, demonstrating investor interest in the most profitable Indian movie company.

The company received bids for 491.87 million shares, as compared to 18.55 million shares on offer. The IPO price band was set at Rs 158-Rs 175 per share.

The qualified institutional investors reserved portion got subscribed 25.79 times. Non institutional and retail investors‘ segments got subscribed 73.40 times and 11.95 times respectively. 

EIML, the pure play movie company, had roped in nine anchor investors ahead of the issue allotting 3.6 million shares at Rs 165 per share. The anchor investors included Citigroup, The India Fund, IDFC Mutual Fund, Lloyd George Investment Management, Indus Capital Adviser and Lockheed Martin Corp.

The company intends to use Rs 2.8 billion from the proceeds of the issue to acquire and co-produce Indian film rights, primarily Hindi films, as also Tamil and other regional language films. The surplus amount will be used towards general corporate purposes including meeting future growth requirements.