India Infoline arms to equally share IPO funds

India Infoline's initial public offering ((IPO) proceeds would be equally distributed among its five subsidiaries, senior company officials said.

The five subsidiaries are an insurance broking company, a mutual fund and other financial services distribution company, a commodities trading company, an online equity broking company and a non-banking finance company.

While its e-broking arm, 5paise.com, generates around 60 per cent of the revenues of the group, other arms are also being built up.

Director R Venkatraman said the e-broking site does around Rs 250 crore of business per day, which comes from a largely retail customer base of 18,000 subscribers. He, however, refused to divulge the profitability of the online operations.

Merchant bankers said a significant portion of the proceeds would also go towards providing margin funding to customers.

The company plans to raise Rs 83-95 crore with the shares on offer at a price band of Rs 70-80 a share. India Infoline as a group reported an income of Rs 47.50 crore for the nine months ending on December 31, 2004, while for fiscal 2004 the company reported a net profit of Rs 7.50 crore.

Part of the proceeds will also go towards doubling its branch network to 150 in the next 18 months. Since it operates out of rented premises which are scattered all over Mumbai city, the company is planning to set up a new centralised office in the city.

The online broking site will also offer the facility of applying IPOs online, Venkatraman said. "We will also launch the facility of applying IPOs online next month," he added.

The issue is opening on April 21 and closes on April 27. Enam Financial Consultants are the sole book running lead managers to the issue.