|
Unattractive valuation termed reason for NumTV hive-off delay
Our eFE Bureau
Chennai, Feb 11 : The hiving off of NumTV, the Web casting portal and content aggregator belonging to Pentamedia Graphics Ltd, into a separate company has been delayed as its valuation, given the current market conditions, is not very attractive, said Pentamedia chief operating officer K Srinivasan at a press conference on Friday. Earlier, the company had planned to hive off Num TV in order to give it a better focus and bring in strategic investors.Also, the market conditions for the proposed $250 million American Depository Receipts (ADR) is unattractive given the current domestic stock price and the tech meltdown in the Nasdaq. The company had obtained its shareholders approval to raise $250 million from international market with a greenshoe option of 15 per cent on December 15, 2000. The approval is valid for a period of three months. Any delay in raising funds would not affect the company's aquisition plans, said Mr Srinivasan. Pentamedia could issue domestic stock for overseas takeovers and these could be converted into ADR/GDR's at a later date. Among other things, Pentamedia plans to pay $15 million for the acquisition of Film Roman Inc by March 2001. Film Roman Inc has been delisted from Nasdaq.The company's entertainment theme park is now operational. An investment of Rs 34 crore has been made in Mayajaal and another Rs 50 crore is expected to pumped in over the year. Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
|
