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Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, the publishers of Deccan Chronicle one of Andhra Pradesh's leading English dailies, said on Wednesday that the price band for its initial public offering has been fixed between Rs 162 and Rs 194 per share.
Deccan Chronicle is offering 8.01 million equity shares of the company through the book building route and the public offering is expected to yield the company anywhere between Rs 130 crore (Rs 1.3 billion) and Rs 155 crore (Rs 1.55 billion). Deccan Chronicle's IPO will open on November 25 and will close on December 2.
The IPO also has a green shoe option of 1,201,960 equity shares and ICICI Securities has been appointed as the stabilisation agent in this regard as well as the book running lead manager to the issue.
The issue will constitute approximately 20 per cent of the fully diluted post offer paid-up capital assuming that the green shoe option is not exercised. The issue size will constitute 22 per cent of the fully diluted post offer paid-up capital if the green shoe option is exercised.
This is the first time a mainline broadsheet paper will be publicly owned. The Red Herring prospectus dated November 8 has filed with the Registrar of Companies, Andhra Pradesh.
Deccan Chronicle is the market leader in Andhra Pradesh and is the largest circulated and read English newspaper in the state.
The capital raised by the public offering will be used by the company to finance new printing facilities and also for venturing into new territories and future strategic initiatives and even acquisitions. The company has already announced that it would be launching the English daily in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.
Commenting on the IPO, P K Iyer, director finance of Deccan Chronicle, said: "Deccan Chronicle is a leading news brand and we intend to leverage our competitive strengths in other markets. Tamil Nadu will be our first destination for leveraging the Deccan Chronicle beyond Andhra Pradesh and we will be continually looking at newer markets and opportunities."
"The global newspaper industry is characterised by an increased level of consolidation and our belief is that this is what will happen in the Indian newspaper industry also. The IPO therefore, is our chosen route of funding expansion, acquisition and modernisation for the Group," Iyer was quoted as saying in a press release.
The company has set up a modern print facility at Kodapur in Hyderabad, which increases the group's ability to print colour pages from four per copy to 16 pages per copy.
Deccan Chronicle has seven editions printed from the Hyderabad/Secunderabad, Vijayawada, Rajamundry, Vizag, Anantapur, Karimnagar and Nellore. It also publishes Andhra Bhoomi in Telugu as a daily, weekly and monthly.