TV Today IPO sold out in 2 hours

TV Today Ltd, which owns and operates the Aaj Tak and Headlines Today news channels, said its initial public offer (IPO), which opened yesterday, had been oversubscribed 2.5 times. The shares of the company are expected to be listed by the third week of January.

"The shares were oversubscribed within the first two hours of the opening of the issue," said Anil Mehra, director, TV Today. According to Mehra, the issue, which offers 14.5 million shares, had been subscribed to the extent of about 19 million shares by this afternoon. The offer closes on December 27.

TV Today has kept a price band of Rs 80-95 per share of Rs 5 each for its public offer through a 100 per cent book-building route. The bidding will be open for another 10 days.

Explaining the rationale for the public issue, TV Today Chairman and Managing Director Arun Purie said, "Our aim is to tap the boom in the media sector, and we plan to use the proceeds from the issue to capitalise on the growth opportunities in the broadcasting industry."

For TV Today, Purie said the opportunities were in setting up niche thematic, city-specific and language-specific channels. He indicated that TV Today was open to tie-ups with regional broadcasters for its language-specific channel, and the idea was to create a bouquet of channels catering to special interests.