Retail investors shun Hathway Cable & Datacom IPO

IPO subscribed 1.36 times on overall basis

Retail investors stayed away from the initial public offer (IPO) of cable television services provider Hathway Cable & Datacom (Hathway). On overall basis, the IPO was subscribed 1.36 times. At the retail level the IPO remained undersubscribed. Retail investors put in bids for 22.92 lakh shares compared with 83.2 lakh shares reserved for this section of the market participants.

The qualified institutional investors (QIB) portion was subscribed 1.43 times. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) put in bids for 45.10 lakh shares, mutual funds put in bids for 74.65 lakh shares and domestic institutional investors other than mutual funds put in bids for 47.39 lakh shares. A total of 1.16 crore shares were reserved for the QIB category as a whole. The non-institutional investors segment, comprising of high networth individuals and corporates was bid 4.28 times. The company had set Rs 240 to Rs 265 per share price band for the IPO.

On Monday, 8 February 2010, the company received a commitment for Rs 119.88 crore from 13 anchor investors. The company finalised allocation of 49.95 lakh equity shares to 13 anchor investors at Rs 240 a piece - at the lower band of the IPO.

Hathway, promoted by the Rahejas, is a leading cable television services provider in India as well as one of the leading cable broadband services providers The company offers analog and digital cable television services across 125 cities and towns and high-speed cable broadband services across 18 cities. The company owns and operates cable networks that reach approximately 8 million cable homes across India, supported by 71 analog head-ends, 19 digital head-ends and more than approximately 15,000 km of HFC network. The company has acquired interest in more than 21 multi systems operators (MSO) and independent cable operators (ICO).