Dish TV Board approves Rs 1200 cr rights issue

Jawahar Goel, MD, Dish TV informed CNBC-TV18 that their Board has approved the right issue of upto Rs 1,200 crore. "The company has tied up the debt roughly about Rs 400 crore and this issue size will be maximum Rs 1,200 crore; we had already tied up the loans for that matter," he said. 

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Jawahar Goel:

Q: You are looking to raise about Rs 1,200 crore. What's the ratio for the rights at this point? Have you decided that?

A: These issues have to be filed with SEBI and before the issue opens; we will decide the ratio and prices. At this moment, our board has approved the right issue of upto Rs 1,200 crore.

Q: As part of your total capex as it stands for now, how much more would you be looking at raising in addition of this Rs 1,200 crore? Is this a full final raising of funds for this financial year or are you going to be looking at raising more funds in due course?

A: Actually this money is required upto 2010. So this fund requirement is for two-years and thereafter we will be sort of self-sufficient. We will be doing it in a logical manner because we do not require this money upfront. It is a subscriber acquisition cost, which has to go on the subscriber when we require the subscriber.

Q: What is your total fund requirement? This Rs 1,200 crore is a first tranche, are we going to be looking at more fund raising options being exercised by the company?

A: The company has tied up the debt roughly about Rs 400 crore and this issue size will be maximum Rs 1,200 crore; we had already tied up the loans for that matter.

Q: What's been the performance in Q4 and what have been the results and what's the market share that you have maintained?

A: We will be declaring Q4 financial results after we have done the audits because we were busy in finalisation of the December audited accounts for our Board. So I cannot discuss the numbers but I can only discuss the numbers of subscribers, which we have added. We have added in the last quarter, about 2,85,000 subscribers. We are over 3 million gross subscribers. As we have declared to our investors that from April 1, we will be declaring the churn subscriber base. So we have the net subscriber base of over 2.5 million. On revenue side, our market share on the subscription revenue in the industry is at about 59%. So these are the only things, which we can discuss. I have been advised by my advisors not to discuss any financial numbers at this point.

Q: Just to get back to the fund raising plan - of course, you had earlier cancelled the equity placement with Future Group and at that time the market price was close to Rs 140, so you had planed that about Rs 130. Now the stock price is down to Rs 65. You are raising Rs 1,200 crore via rights - so will you be raising the balance Rs 400 crore through some other equipments and how much does your equity expand because of this rights issue?

A: The equity expansion will be Rs 42 crore adjustment to paid-up capital and another Rs 42 crore will be via rights issue. The Rs 400 crore is the debt, which we have been talking about. When the India vision thing did not happen, the promoters group invested about Rs 300 crore in the company to keep on their company’s requirement, which is very much funded by the promoters.