Advanta India's IPO opens on March 26

Mumbai, Mar 25: Advanta India Ltd (AIL) is slated to enter the capital markets tomorrow with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of 3,380,000 Equity shares of Rs ten for cash at a premium to be decided through the cent per cent book-building process in the price band of Rs 600 and Rs 650 per equity share.

The company is an international agronomic seed company with principal operation in India, Australia, Thailand and Argentina and is a subsidiary of United Phosphorus Ltd (UPL).

The shares will be listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the subscription for which will close on Friday, an official statement said.

Headquartered in Bangalore, AIL is operational in the US, Australia, China, Latin America and Europe. The Company has been reorganized into its current form following the acquisition by UPL of the business previously held by Advanta Netherlands Holdings B V (Advanta Nertherlands) and the amalgamation of Uniphos Seeds and Bio-Genetic Pvt Ltd (USBPL), the statement said.

The company, including its operating subsidiaries is engaged in the research, production and sales of a range of hybrid seeds for cereal and oilseed crops and is a global leader in technical plant breeding and in the application of biotechnology to develop new hybrids and varieties of field crops and broad acre vegetable seed products.

In the last financial year 2006, AIL posted unconsolidated income of Rs 43.54 crore and Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs 4.45 crore. During the first seven months period ended Oct 31 '06, the unconsolidated income was Rs 59.9 crore with a PAT of Rs 28.24 crore.

The results for the seven month period ended Oct 31 '06 includes the business of USBPL, which was amalgamated with the company with effect from April 1, 2006, the statement added.

UNI