The Indian Film Company, promoted by media conglomerate TV18 Group, has raised 55 million pounds (around Rs 445 crore) on the alternative investment market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange (LSE).The company will invest the money in production and intellectual property rights of Indian films."The company would begin with a basket of 14 film projects enabling a diversified & de-risked portfolio and optimum returns," a release issued by Elara Capital, the UK-based mid-market investment banker for the issue said.The TV18 Group recently entered into a tie-up with Viacom to set up a multi-platform entertainment company Viacom 18, aimed at developing as well as distributing digital media contents for television brands."We have closed the fund raising of the IFC and will be listing in the AIM Market on June 18. This is the first outside India listing for any enterprise of the TV 18 Group and we are excited to be in a position to invest substantial capital in the maturing market of Indian filmdom," Raghav Behl, chairman, TV 18 Group said."The Indian affair with the AIM can be traced to a few inherent advantages such as lower entry barriers, simpler listing procedures, comparative flexibility and the perception of greater liquidity than exchanges, such as Luxembourg and Singapore. We are starting to see a few Indian mid-market companies looking at AIM market," Ajay Pandey, capital markets head, Elara Capital said.
