Spice Telecom’s board of directors has approved the company’s plans to issue an IPO during March-April 2007. The IPO, which was earlier expected to be launched in December 2006, was delayed as it expects better demand from the market in early 2007. The delay will also ensure that Spice Telecom’s IPO, which is expected to yield proceeds of up to $300 million, will not coincide with that of Idea Cellular. Spice Telecom plans to raise about Rs 6 billion by offloading 15-20 per cent stake. Telekom Malaysia currently holds about 49 per cent stake in Spice, for which it paid Rs 8 billion. This values the company at about Rs 16 billion. Spice Telecom has about 2.5 million customers and its debt is about Rs 12 billion.
