Mid Day eyes ally to fund expansion

Mid Day Multimedia is planning an expansion across all its businesses "" newspaper, television, radio and outdoor advertising. The media group is looking at strategic partners for financing the expansion.

"The entire plan has been pegged at Rs 150 crore and will be approached by the Mid Day Multmedia group in different stages over a period of time," Manajit Ghoshal, chief financial officer, said.

Depending on the appetite of the investor, the expansion could either be completely funded through investments or augmented through internal accruals, he added. The expansion entails increasing the circulation of Mid Day, which currently has a circulation of 1.5 lakh.

"In the first phase, we will look at shoring up Mid Day's circulation in Mumbai significantly, after which, in the second phase we will take the newspaper to other metros," Ghoshal said.

The groups' other two publications Inquilaab and Mid Day (Gujarati), which have a circulation of 40,000 and 45,000, are also set to see a rise in circulation figures.

The funding could take the form of fresh equity infusion as well as sale of existing equity shares. Currently, the promoters of Mid Day Multimedia, the Ansari family owns close to 70 per cent of the company's shares.

Company sources said the shareholding of the company could undergo considerable changes after the capital accruals. DSP Merrill Lynch has been appointed as the financial advisor by the group for the above transactions.