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Sri Adhikari Brothers News & Television Network Ltd is set to float its Initial Public Offering (IPO), offloading over 44 per cent equity in the closely held television content company.
Post-IPO, the stake of the promoters, Gautam and Markand Adhikari, would be 55.7 per cent down from the current 100 per cent.
The content provider has also sought approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for placing the 26 per cent stake to foreign institutional investors through the proposed IPO.
The company was in the process of preparing and filing the Draft Red Herring Prospectus with Sebi, according to the application seeking FIPB clearance without specifying a timeline for the same.
The scrip would be listed on the BSE and NSE. The company executives could not be reached for comments and details on the business strategy.
The company, which has a current affair and news channel "JANMAT'' on air, would be making the IPO through 100 per cent book building method with maximum 50 per cent available for institutional buyers, including mutual funds.
A minimum of 15 per cent and 35 per cent has been set aside for non-institutional buyers and retail individual bidders respectively.
Even though bringing out an IPO does not require a FIPB clearance, the sectoral caps for news media in terms of FDI/FII stand fixed at 26 per cent of the total paid up capital. This FII stake requires prior approval from FIPB, which SABTNL is seeking.
The Group's earlier listed entity, Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Ltd, was sold off for around Rs 57 crore to SET (Singapore) Ltd in March last year.
The sale transferred the SAB TV brand, 1,305 hours of programming and related assets to SET. SAB TV had recently entered into a 50:50 joint venture agreement with Sri Lanka's TV channel Sirasa TV for providing programming, concepts and technical expertise to produce content.
