Sun TV lists at 67% premium on debut

Most valuable media company after Zee.

Sun TV made a spectacular debut on the bourses today, closing with gains of 67 per cent at Rs 1,466 over the issue price of Rs 875.

With a valuation of over Rs 10,000 crore, Sun has become the second most valuable company in the media space, next to Subhash Chandra-owned Zee Telefilms. Sun ended the day with a market capitalisation of Rs 10,099 crore, compared with Rs 10,191 crore for Zee.

Sun had a strong start opening at Rs 1,111, a premium of 27 per cent over the public offer price on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The stock touched a low of Rs 1,061 during the day but ended on a strong note, despite the weak market sentiment today.

The Sensex today went down by 115 points on weak foreign fund buying.

Sun shares ended at Rs 1,466, after touching an intra-day high of Rs 1,500 on the BSE. On the National Stock Exchange, the stock closed at Rs 1,455. Nearly 16.8 million shares changed hands during the day.

Dealers said strong demand for the stock from institutions, apart from heightened speculation in the derivatives segment, drove up prices to unexpected levels.

The QIB portion of the public offer was subscribed 70 times, which implies a lot of unsatisfied demand. Since liquidity tended to be strong on the first day of listing, institutions had placed buy orders, a dealer said.

Mitesh Shah, assistant vice-president-PCG sales, Brics said, "We were expecting the stock to list at Rs 1,100 and consolidate at around Rs 1,150. However, since the stock was listed in the futures markets too, speculative activity drove the stock to consolidate at around 1,400-levels".