“Media firm DB Corp will launch its initial public offering (IPO) to raise about Rs385 crore ($83 million) on Friday,” three sources with direct knowledge of the deal said on Tuesday.
“The issue will close on 15 December,” one source said.
The company will join a slew of companies that have tapped the market recently, encouraged by a stock market rally that has led the Mumbai index to more than double since March.
DB Corp publishes seven newspapers in three languages across 11 states in India. Its flagship newspapers, Hindi-language Dainik Bhaskar and Gujarati-language Divya Bhaskar and Saurashtra Samachar, have a combined average daily readership of 15.5 million readers.
The company also operates 17 FM radio stations through a subsidiary.
Citigroup, Kotak Mahindra and Enam Securities are lead arrangers for the issue.
Activity in the global market for IPOs is charging ahead, riding on the rising risk appetite of investors as markets recover from the global financial crisis.
The company has fixed the price band of the initial public offering at Rs 185-212 per share. At the upper band of the IPO, the company will raise around Rs Rs 385 crore. The IPO closes December 15.
DB Corporation plans to use the proceeds for setting up new publishing units; upgrading existing plant and machinery; enhancing brand image through sales and marketing, reducing existing working capital loans and prepaying existing term loans.
The company is in the business of print media, and publishes 7 newspapers, 48 newspaper editions and 128 sub-editions in three languages (Hindi, Gujarati and English) across 11 states.
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