Advanta India files DRHP with SEBI

Mumbai, October 5: Advanta India Limited (the "Company"), one of the leading international agronomic seed companies with principal operations in India, Australia, Thailand and Argentina, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of United Phosphorus Ltd.,. filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI") on September 29, 2006 to enter the capital market with its public offering of equity shares.

The Company proposes to issue 5,057,000 Equity Shares of Rs 10 for cash at a premium to be decided through the 100% book-building process for listing on both Bombay Stock Exchange Limited and National Stock Exchange Limited (the "Issue").

The Company is considering a pre-Issue placement of up to 1,685,600 Equity Shares with certain investors (the "Pre-Issue Placement"). The Company will complete the issuance of such Equity Shares prior to the completion of this Issue. If the Pre-Issue Placement is completed, the Issue size offered to the public would be reduced to the extent of such Pre-Issue Placement, subject to a minimum Issue size of 10% of the post-Issue paid-up capital being offered to the public.

If the Issue size is 25% or more of the post-Issue paid-up capital, of the total Issue size, at least 50% of the Issue shall be allotted on a proportionate basis to Qualified Institutional Buyers ("QIBs") of which 5% of the Issue shall be available for allocation to Mutual Funds only and the remaining QIB Portion shall be available for allocation to the QIB Bidders, including Mutual Funds, subject to valid bids being received at or above the Issue Price.

In that case, at least 15% of the Issue shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Non-Institutional Bidders and at least 35% of the Issue shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Retail Individual Bidders, subject to valid Bids being received at or above the Issue Price.

If, as a result of the Pre-Issue Placement, the Issue size is reduced to an extent such that the Issue constitutes less than 25% of the post-Issue paid-up capital of the Company, the Issue would be made through the 100% book-building process where at least 60% of the Issue would be allotted on a proportionate basis to QIBs. 5% of the Issue comprised in the QIB Portion would be available for allocation to Mutual Funds only and the remaining QIB Portion would be available for allocation to the QIB Bidders, including Mutual Funds, subject to valid bids being received at or above the Issue Price.

Further, in that case, up to 10% of the Issue would be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Non-Institutional Bidders and up to 30% of the Issue would be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Retail Individual Bidders, subject to valid Bids being received at or above the Issue Price.

The Company believes that it is a global leader in technical plant breeding and in the application of biotechnology to develop new hybrids and varieties of field crops and broad acre vegetable seed products, including sorghum, canola, sunflower, corn, hybrid rice and hybrid mustard. Its research and development efforts are in the areas of superior breeding programs and bioscience techniques that have driven the development of a portfolio of elite, proprietary and highly differentiated germplasm.

Headquartered in Bangalore, India, the Company is active in the research, production and sales of a range of hybrid cereal and oilseed crops. Its key crops in India are rice, sunflower, corn, millet, grain sorghum, forage sorghum and mustard.

The Book Running Lead Managers to the Issue are Yes Bank Ltd., UBS Securities India Private Limited and SSKI Corporate Finance Private Ltd.