Spice Telecom IPO to hit market on June 25

Mumbai, June 19 (UNI) Regional mobile operator Spice Telecom will raise Rs 112 crore through an Initial Public Offer (IPO), the proceeds of which will be mainly utilised towards repayment of debt and payment of licence fee for National Long Distance and International Long Distance.

The issue, having a price band Rs 41-46, will hit the market on June 25.

The issue is being made through 100 per cent book building wherein at least 60 per cent of the net issue to public shall be allocated to qualified institutional buyers on a proportionate basis and 30 per cent of the net issue will be allocated to retail investors.

Spice Telecom is the seventh largest mobile operator with a subscriber base of 2.8 million and has presence in two telecom circles Punjab and Karnataka.

Spice Telecom Managing Director Dilip Modi said the IPO would be followed by another round to raise US 350 million dollars over the next two years depending on government clearance to operate services in new states.'' Mr Modi owns 51 per cent of Spice, with Telecom Malaysia holding the remaining 49 per cent, which it picked in last year.

''We are looking to invest more than USD 2 billion to expand our operations throughout India,'' he added.

Spice operates on the 900 Mhz band in the two circles, a frequency that supports a higher number of subscribers than the 1,800 Mhz band used by other operators.

UNI