Polaris has finalised its initial public offering (IPO) at a premium of Rs 200 per share. The offer, billed as one of the biggest in recent times, will open for public subscription on August 4, and close on August 10, 1999. The issue will raise Rs 91.68 crore and the funds will be used to set up developmental centres in the US and Europe and for other expansion plans.
To comply with a Sebi regulation that post-public issue, a company should have a minimum 25 per cent equity as floating stock, both the promoters and Citicorp will be off-loading part of their equity holding.
Post-issue, the promoters' equity will come down from 61.6 per cent to 46.97 per cent, while that of Citicorp will decline to 11.29 per cent from 18 per cent.
Both stakeholders will offload their holding for the same price as the public issue. Citicorp picked up a stake in Polaris through a private placement at price around Rs 120 a share.
With the public offering and the offloaded stock, floating stock will be around 25.6 per cent.
The company ended 1998-99 with a 93 per cent increase in turnover at Rs 82.4 crore from Rs 42.6 crore in the previous year. Profit after tax grew more spectacularly to reach Rs 15.3 crore during 1998-99 compared to Rs 5.4 crore in 1997-98.
Since the company's inception in 1993, it has clocked a compounded annual growth rate of close to 153 per cent.
Soon as Polaris decided to go for an IPO, the company hived off its retail business into a separate entity called Polaris Retail and Communication Ltd.
