Telecom gear maker ITI to raise Rs 1,600 cr via FPO for part-debt repayment, working capital needs; issue to open on 24 January

Mumbai: State-run electronics and telecom gear manufacturer Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) plans to raise Rs 1,600 crore through a follow-on public offer which will be utilised for partial debt repayment as well as to meet working capital requirements. The issue will open on 24 January and close on 28 January. The price band for the offer will be announced on 22 January, a top official of the company said. “A significant part of this issue, around Rs 607 crore, will be utilised for partial repayment of loans while over Rs 640 crore would be used to fund our working capital requirements,” company’s chairman and managing director RM Agarwal told reporters here. [caption id=“attachment_6013191” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] ITI’s total outstanding debt as on 31 December 2019, stood at Rs 978.38 crore. The follow-on offer (FPO) comprises a fresh issue of up to 18 crore equity shares and additional issue of up to 18 lakh shares, constituting 1 percent of the net issue, which would be reserved for employees on a proportionate bases. An FPO is issuance of additional shares to investors or existing shareholders to raise equity. “We want to diversify our offerings. In the near future, we would be launching new products and services. Also, we would be leveraging our relationship with the government and various public sector agencies, modernise its infrastructure and technology as well as partner with technology firms to support the make in India and digital India initiatives,” he added. The FPO will help the company meet Sebi’s requirement of minimum 25 percent public shareholding. The company has a diverse suite of products including manufactured products like gigabit passive optical network (GPON), managed leased line network (MLLN) products, stand alone signaling transfer point(SSTP), Wi-Fi access point, radio modem, SMPS, set top box, defence products, smart energy meters, smart cards, solar panels, mini personal computers, among others. Besides offering the telecom turnkey solutions and customized support, ITI has a dedicated network system unit for executing turnkey projects for installation and commissioning of telecommunication network. ITI reported a turnover of Rs 919 crore and a PAT of Rs 168 crore in the third quarter of FY2019-20. The company’s order book as of 31 December 2019 stood at Rs 11,051.12 crore which includes various GoI projects such as ASCON, BharatNet, network for spectrum, smart energy meters, space programs and e-governance projects. “The strengths of ITI are its diverse products and services offered across sectors, well established relationships with PSUs, the ministry of Defence and other government and state agencies. With the kind of segments we are entering and the initiatives taken by the government, ITI will be one of the leading technology services provider,” Agarwal said. ITI has appointed BOB Capital Markets, Karvy Investor Services and PNB Investment Services as the book running lead managers to the issue. The net issue will have not less than 75 percent allocation to qualified institutional buyers, not more than 15 percent to non-institutional bidders and not more than 10 percent to retail individual bidders. Shares of ITI ended at Rs 102.85 on BSE, down 0.29 percent as against the benchmark index Sensex correcting by 0.99 percent.