ITI follow-on public offer in July as per DoT action plan

State-owned telecom equipment maker ITI will offer 18 crore fresh equity shares under a follow-on public offer (FPO) in July this year and will start roadshows for the FPO in the third week of June, according to an internal action plan note of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

The issue is scheduled to open on July 31, 2019.

An FPO is a process by which a company already listed in an exchange issues new shares to investors or existing shareholders, usually the promoters. It is used by companies to diversify their equity base.

"Further public offer of 18 crore fresh equity shares by ITI Ltd is to be taken up in July 2019 and the roadshows for this will start in third week of June. The PSU will file Red Herring Prospectus with Registrar of Companies (RoC) by July 16, 2019.

"The issue will open on July 31, 2019, and before that advertisements will be on display on July 29", the Telecom Ministry action plan note says, chalking out the timeline for ITI's FPO.

An additional issue constituting up to 5 per cent of the net issue will be reserved for employees, as per the plan.

The ITI intra-day stock price was down 1.52 per cent at Rs 90.80.

The government holds 90 per cent stake in ITI, while the Special National Investment Fund holds 7.75 per cent as the largest public shareholder. The company has a market cap of Rs 8,158 crore.

The ITI board meeting to approve audited financial results for year ended March 2019 is slated for May 28.

The PSU announced a turnover of Rs 2051 Crore (unaudited) for the financial year ended on March 31, 2019, against Rs 1,703 Crore in 2017-18, according to the company statement.

As per the BSE, the company has not declared any dividend for many years in succession.

Last year, it bagged an advance work order (AWO) from BSNL for the operation maintenance, sales and marketing of the passive infrastructure of 6,945 BTS sites under BSNL's GSM network and the order is valued at Rs 6,633.56 crore for a period of 10 years.

ITI had filed its draft paper during last September. BOB Capital Markets, Karvy Investor Services and PNB Investment Services will manage ITI's FPO.

The state-run firm manufactures diverse information and communication technology (ICT) products and solutions. Its customers include state-run BSNL, MTNL, defence and paramilitary forces and state governments.

(Anjana Das can be contatced at anjana.d@ians.in)

--IANS

ana/sn/bc