Indian billionaire Modi plans $1bn IPO

by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Tuesday, 23 June 2009

SPICE GLOBAL: Multimedia company decides to give Dubai stockmarket a miss. (Getty Images)

Indian billionaire Bhupendra Kumar Modi has said his holding company plans to raise about $1 billion in an initial public offering after canceling a share sale in Dubai.

Mr Modi’s Spice Global scrapped plans for its $500 million IPO after the Dubai Financial Market General Index slumped in the past year, he told Bloomberg News.

The company will now look to raise its capital on another exchange in 2011.

Where Spice Global will hold the IPO has yet to be determined but Bloomberg News reported that Modi would prefer an exchange that would allow shareholders to trade shares using mobile phones.

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''We will go to the exchange that is mobile wireless,'' he said.

While the company is considering Singapore - where Spice Global is based - the city-state’s exchange is ''too small and will need a tie-up,'' Mr. Modi said.

He added that he plans to spend more than $2 billion to expand Spice Global, including opening 10,000 mobile-phone services stores that sell ''digital wireless products,'' in three years.