Sistema Shyam plans IPO after December 2011

Sistema Shyam, the Indian joint venture of Russia’s Sistema, is planning to come out with an initial public offer (IPO) in the fourth quarter of the next financial year.

The company recently got $600 million (Rs 2,680 crore) investment from the government of Russian Federation, which will take around 18 per cent stake in the venture.

“It will take about four-five months to clear all the formalities on the Russian Federation investment. We want our capital structure to be fixed first. We are already in discussions with merchant bankers. It is expected that we may come out with an IPO in the fourth quarter of 2011-12,” a senior official from Sistema Shyam told Business Standard.

The official said the company was waiting for the right time to hit the capital market, as they were not sure how investors would take their business model.

The company expects to be cash-positive in 2013. “We want to maintain our strong growth track record before we come out with an IPO,” the official added.

Sistema Shyam offers mobile services under the brand name of MTS in India. It is licensed to provide CDMA-based services across the country.

Prior to the Russian Federation’s inclusion, Sistema had a 73.71 per cent stake in the joint venture. The Shyam group held 23.79 per cent and the remaining 2.5 per cent was held by the public.

The funds will be used for the expansion of MTS' services in India. It already offers service in 12 circles and expects to launch in the remaining ones by next year.

It has about six million mobile subscribers on its platform. Although the Russian government deal was scheduled to close in 2009 and funds for the acquisition were earmarked in the 2009 budget, the process got delayed. This prompted the Russian government to vote again and transfer the sum to the 2010 budget.

The Russian government will be utilising paRs of its rupee-rouble trade reserve balance of $2 billion (Rs 8,940 crore) in the Reserve Bank of India for procuring SSTL shares.