Pyramid Saimira's subsidiary plans Rs 1.5 billion IPO for film & TV production biz

By Indiantelevision.com Team
(12 November 2007 7:30 pm)


MUMBAI: Pyramid Saimira Productions Ltd (PSPL), a subsidiary company of Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd, plans to float an initial public offering (IPO) to raise Rs 1.5 billion.

The company will dilute 10-12 per cent equity through the IPO and the funds will be used to expand the film and TV production businesses.

"We plan to raise Rs 1.5 billion," Pyramid Saimira managing director PS Saminathan tells Indiantelevision.com. "We expect to come out with the IPO by February-end."

PSPL aims to ramp up its movie production from 13 this fiscal to 50 in FY'09. The TV content production is also expected to increase significantly. "We are currently doing two hours of TV content for Tamil channels Raj TV and Kalaignar TV. We will be scaling our film as well as TV content. Our target is to produce content in nine different languages including Hindi," says Saminathan.

Already Pyramid has tied up with banks, an insurance company and a film completion bond firm to provide an annual corpus of Rs 3 billion for funding film producers.

Meanwhile, Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd (PSTL) has got the board nod to increase the authorised capital of the company from Rs 330 million to Rs 500 million.

The board has also approved the acquisition of a company engaged in the media space. "We can't disclose the name yet but it is in the theatre advertising space," says Saminathan.

PSTL recently bought out Texas-based FunAsia, becoming the first Indian theatre chain to enter into the US market. The acquisition was made through PSTL's US subsidiary Pyramid Saimira Entertainment America Inc.