Goldman invests Rs 800 cr in Zee

MUMBAI, JANUARY 24: In one of the biggest private placement deals in Indian corporate history, the board of Zee Telefilms has allotted 80 ...

MUMBAI, JANUARY 24: In one of the biggest private placement deals in Indian corporate history, the board of Zee Telefilms has allotted 80 lakh equity share warrants worth Rs 800 crore to Goldman Sachs Investments India Ltd. The warrants are convertible into 80 lakh equity shares of Re one each within a period of three months from the date of allotment at an exercise price of Rs 1,000 per equity share (face value of Re one and a premium Rs 999 per share).

The company’s board in its last AGM had, in principle, decided to divest up to 10 per equity to strategic partners. Goldman Sachs is a leading US-based investment bank. The board on Monday also announced the allotment of 161,27,412 equity shares of Re one each fully paid up to Asia Production Ltd, Mauritius, News Television Ltd, Mauritius. This is part of the deal struck with Star News owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Profits rise: Zee Telefilms also reported a net profit of Rs 61.8 crore for the nine-month ended Dec 31, 1999, up Rs 43.7 crore against last year. While total income was Rs 218.98 crore as compared to Rs 168.59 crore, total expenditure was Rs 1,30.69 crore against Rs 1,03.04 crore recorded in the same period of last year. Gross profit was Rs 82.17 crore, as compared to Rs 59.76 crore.

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The net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 1999 rose by 54 per cent to Rs 24.86 crore. Gross advertisement bookings for the quarter rose to Rs 166.80 crore as against Rs 113.99 crore for the same period in 1998.

Total income for the third quarter stood at Rs 90.29 crore as against Rs 63.81 crore in the corresponding period last year. Zee had recently entered into an agreement with Newscorp Group of companies to accquire their 50 per cent stake in Winterheath Company Ltd. Winterheath owns 100% equity in Asia Today Ltd, Siticable Network Ltd and Programme Asia Trading Company Ltd for a consideration of $ 296.51 million.

US listing: The company has firmed up plans to get itself listed on the Nasdaq within this year. Confirming the plans, a top official said that the company is working towards the listing. According to sources, the company has also firmed up plans to float an ADR issue. Zee Telefilms will be the country’s first media company to list on Nasdaq.

As a build up to the listing, the company has already been following GAAP. "Though we are moving in that direction, we are yet to specify a time-frame for the listing," a company official said.

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On the issue of listing on Nasdaq, the official said the company is yet firm up plans on the ADR route. However, sources close to the company said that the Zee Telefilm’s stock will debut in the US markets within the next three-four months. The company’s Re one paid up stock has risen to a high of Rs 1,200 and has risen from around Rs 600 to the current level. The recent success of Infosys, Satyam Infoway and ICICI on the US bourses has encouraged a number of Indian corporates to go ahead with overseas equity float to get listed on Nasdaq.

EXCLUSIVE: EC brings in feature to check misuse of identity to seek voter list deletions

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