MUMBAI: The promoters are upping their stake marginally in Indusind Media & Communication Ltd (IMCL) to 93 per cent, after converting preference shares into equity.
The government has permitted the Hinduja-owned company, which runs the cable TV business under the Incablenet brand, to convert seven-year cumulative non-convertible redeemable preference shares into equity.
Amas Mauritius, a promoter group company, had earlier invested Rs 740 million in IMCL, a source said. The cost per share works out to Rs 121 as preference shares being issued is 6.1 million.
With the equity being expanded, the other shareholders will get marginally diluted. IndusInd Bank holds 5.8 per cent and Kudelski, a leading digital security and convergent media solutions company for delivery of digital and interactive content, around 2.2 per cent.
The company had applied for FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) clearance. With the FIPB giving its nod, the decks are cleared for the promoters to increase their stake marginally in IMCL.
The media subsidiary company of listed entity Hinduja Ventures Ltd is gearing up for digitisation and recently acquired controlling stake in two small-sized cable networks in Kolkata. It already has a strong presence in Mumbai and Delhi, the other two metros which fall under the first phase of government-mandated digitisation. In Chennai, the fourth metro to come under digitisation in the first stage, Incablenet does not have a presence.
IMCL, which has a pan India cable TV presence, is toying with the idea of a reverse merger that would enable it to list and raise funds up to Rs 5 billion through qualified institutional placement (QIP). Earlier, the company had plans to raise $100 million ahead of an initial public offering (IPO).
IMCL posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 632 million on a total Income of Rs 4.81 billion for the year ended March 2012.
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