GTPL Hathway Ltd, which offers cable TV and broadband services, has received approval for its proposed initial public offering (IPO) from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
With this, GTPL Hathway became the 14th company to receive the capital markets regulator’s nod for a public issue in 2017.
GTPL Hathway offers cable TV and broadband services in several cities including Pune, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata. The company had filed the draft prospectus with Sebi on 3 January, to facilitate a partial sale of shares by promoters and promoter group entities.
According to the draft prospectus, the IPO comprises sale of 18 million shares by promoters and shareholders as well as a fresh issue of shares worth Rs300 crore.
GTPL will use the proceeds from the IPO to reduce debt.
The Ahmedabad-based company is part of the R. Raheja group-backed Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd, which acquired a 50% stake in the firm in 2008.
As of 30 September, its digital cable television services reached 169 towns across India, including towns in Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, according to the draft prospectus.
The company had approximately 5.41 million active digital cable subscribers, it added.
According to the draft prospectus, GTPL had 3.7 million cable television customers in Gujarat in 2015. The Kolkata and Howrah markets in West Bengal comprised of around 700,000 subscribers in 2015.
GTPL reported a consolidated revenue of Rs852.1 crore in the financial year 2015-16, compared to a revenue of Rs632.1 crore in the previous year. In 2015-16, GTPL reported a profit of Rs69 crore, as against a profit of Rs16.7 crore the previous year.
JM Financial Institutional Securities Ltd, BNP Paribas, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors Pvt. Ltd and Yes Securities (India) Ltd are managing the proposed public issue of GTPL.
When it sells shares, GTPL Hathway will become the second cable operator to go public in the past two years.
In March 2015, New Silk Route-backed Ortel Communications went public. It, however, received a tepid response to its IPO which barely managed to sail through after New Silk Route reduced the number of shares it sought to sell in the issue.
Source: Mint