NDTV float in May-June

New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) has appointed leading professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as a consultant for its initial public offer (IPO) expected to hit the market this summer.

A top PwC functionary confirmed the move. However, NDTV President Prannoy Roy did not respond to e-mail queries.

Company sources said the IPO was likely to happen by May-June 2004. PwC, they said, would carry out an evaluation of the company's books.

Apart from the main promoters, Roy and his wife Radhika, Standard Chartered (14.35 per cent) and ICICI Bank (15.2 per cent) have a substantial shareholding in the company.

The current book value of the stock could not be ascertained. But when Standard Chartered, through a Mauritius-based subsidiary, picked up the stake in the company towards the end of 2003, it paid Rs 154 for a Rs 10 equity share.

Standard Chartered bought 3,428,387 equity shares in the company at Rs 53 crore. Though details of the ICICI Bank deal was not known, it was estimated to be of a similar size as the other deal. The Standard Chartered deal puts NDTV's valuation at Rs 370 crore.

Industry sources said since the ICICI Bank and StanChart deals happened when NDTV was trying to put its new business plans -- launching its own news channels after snapping a news content supply agreement with Rupert Murdoch's Star News -- on track, the book value of the company's stock is likely to be much higher as on date. NDTV's two news channels, NDTV 24X7 and NDTV India (in Hindi), have picked up momentum in the last few months.

NDTV's rival TV Today - which runs the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak and the english Headlines Today - has come out recently with a book-built issue to raise around Rs 130 crore.

In mid-January, the company made its debut on The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) at Rs 220, a premium of 132 per cent over its offer price of Rs 95.

TV Today's IPO of 14.5 million shares, or 25 per cent of the company's equity, was oversubscribed 35 times.

At current prices, TV Today's market capitalisation is Rs 850 crore The stock market is currently under a correction mode, but the feel good factor is expected to be sustained on a longer term.