Tv-18 Lists At Rs 1,950 On Bse

Entertainment and media company Television Eighteen India Ltd (TV-18) yesterday listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange at

Rs 1,950, over 10 times higher than its initial public issue price of

Rs 180 (Rs 10 paid-up and

Rs 170 premium). The issue was oversubscribed 60 times.

After opening on an encouraging note, the scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs 1,990 within 15 minutes. However, selling pressure saw it drop to Rs 1,490. It later recovered to close at Rs 1,667.10.

On the National Stock Exchange, TV-18 opened at Rs 1,400 and touched a high of Rs 1,800 before closing at Rs 1,688.50. More than 452,000 and 780,000 shares were traded on the BSE and NSE respectively.

 

"There is always a lot of volatile movement on the first day as the market tries to discover the right price. From tomorrow onwards, it should be normal," TV-18 managing director Raghav Bahl said yesterday at a ceremony organised to mark the scrip's listing on the Delhi Stock Exchange, where it opened at Rs 1,790 and touched Rs 1,900 before closing at Rs 1,650.

Bahl attributed part of the market interest in the scrip to the overall euphoria over media and entertainment companies. "Certainly, we will be deluding ourselves if we do not acknowledge that. The market expects media companies to do very well. What we have done is presented a business model. It is up to the market to evaluate it," Bahl said. The company, which produces stock market favourite program `Bazaar' relayed through-out the day with period intervals on the CNBC channel, announced that it has signed a joint venture agreement with CNBC Asia to produce, operate and distribute a new CNBC India channel. The channel is scheduled for a launch later this month. CNBC Asia will have a 51 per cent stake in the joint venture entity, while TV-18 will hold 49 cent.

The two investors have pumped in close to $20 million in the venture and are likely to put in another $10 million. The agreement includes a phased schedule of program supply with up to 50 per cent original Indian programming by mid-2001 as well as production-related initiatives such as phone and V-SAT links throughout the Indian sub-continent and a studio complex in Delhi and Mumbai. Sanjay Ray Chaudhuri, one of the promoters, said the company was also setting up a business news portal which it aims to put up by the time the Union budget is presented on February 29.