MUMBAI: Wire & Wireless India Ltd‘s plans to raise Rs 4 billion through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) is delayed due to regulatory hurdles. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has said that the company can‘t come out with fresh issues till completion of six months of listing.

The Zee Group‘s demerged cable company, which got listed on 10 January, wanted to come out with a QIP at Rs 122. But regulations require a six-month wait from the listing date as the pricing of the issue is arrived at based on an average during this period.

For the same reason, a preferential issue of convertible warrants to Jayneer Capital (a promoter group company) translating to five per cent of the company‘s existing equity could not be undertaken. The conversion price at Rs 122 per share (higher than the average for fhe first two-week listing period) would have meant that the promoter group would have put in Rs 1.31 billion for this.

"The promoters hold 43.79 per cent (till 31 December) in WWIL and would like to hike it up to 51 per cent. But SEBI wants a six-month wait from listing even for the proposed QIP issue as it is a regulatory requirement," says a source close to the company.

WWIL was also considering a rights issue but decided against it because it would take a longer time. The company would have to submit its audited results, file the document and wait for regulatory approval. "If WWIL was to go ahead with the rights issue, it would have had to wait till September. For a QIP, it can do it earlier. The company is most likely to decide on this as a fund raising option," the source says.

The QIP issue would help WWIL fund its expansion programme including digitalisation and acquisition of cable operators. WWIL has aggressive plans to expand its digital cable business and had earlier projected a fund requirement of Rs 7.14 billion over two years.