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TM’s Indian affiliate, Spice Communications Limited (Spice) today commenced trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Spice made its debut at Rs. 55.75 per share, up 20% from its issue price of Rs. 46 per share. It reached a morning high of Rs. 67.05 per share, TM said in a statement released in Kuala Lumpur.

Spice had received final approval for the Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the 19 June 2007, having filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 19 February 2007. The target offering date had been set at between 25-27 June 2007.

Spice is entering the capital market with a Public Issue of 113,111,111 equity shares of Rs. 10 each through a 100% Book Building Process. The price band for the Issue had been fixed between Rs. 41 and Rs. 46 per equity share.

According to TM, Spice recently concluded a pre-IPO placement of 24,873,889 shares at Rs. 45 per share, thereby raising about Rs. 112 crore (USD27.6 million). The total number of new equity shares on issue is 137,985,000, representing 20% of the post-issued paid-up share capital. The IPO was oversubscribed by 37.5 times on the closing date of 27 June 2007.

TM initially had a 49% stake in Spice through TMI India Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TM's international investment holding company, TM International Sdn Bhd. (TM International). The remaining 51% is with Modi Wellvest Private Limited (MWPL) the promoter of Spice. Upon completion of the IPO, the shareholding of both MWPL and TM will be diluted to 40.8% and 39.2% respectively.

TM International Chief Executive Officer and Spice Director Yusof Annuar Yaacob said: “The IPO of Spice enables the company to fund repayment of debt, make payment for recently acquired National and International Long Distance (NLD/ILD) licence fees and its related capital expenditure, and ensure business expansion in the current two circles it operates in i.e. Karnataka and Punjab.

As a listed company, Spice has put in place proper corporate governance structure to ensure the Company is professionally run. The listing status will also raise its corporate profile and enhance the Spice brand,” he added.

Spice had received NLD/ILD licences from the Department of Telecom (DOT) on 11 May 2007. Its application for licences in 20 circles, as part of its pan-Indian strategy, remains pending.

Spice commenced operations in 1997 as a cellular services provider in the states of Punjab and Karnataka in India. As at 31 March 2007, Spice is the second largest cellular services provider in Punjab and fifth largest cellular services provider in Karnataka in subscriber terms [based on data compiled by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)]. On a combined basis, Spice has a market share of 14.3% in these states.

The customer base consists of approximately 3.2 million subscribers as of 30 June 2007, comprising approximately 2.66 million pre-paid subscribers and approximately 0.51 million post-paid subscribers. Both these states are recognised as major economic hubs of India, with Punjab enjoying the highest per capita income in the country, and Karnataka (whose major city is Bangalore) known as the “Silicon Valley” of India.