Silverline Technologies, an Indian information technology services company, kicked off a roadshow in Singapore Monday to drum up investor interest in its proposed sale of up to $125 million of American depositary shares (ADS) to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Mumbai-based Silverline plans to sell 10.4 million shares, equivalent to 5.2 million ADS. After passing through Hong Kong yesterday the company is in Europe today and will visit investors in the US with a view to pricing the shares early in the week beginning 19 June.
If successful, Silverline will become the first Indian information technology company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Other Indian companies listed on the NYSE include financial services company ICICI and its ICICI Bank subsidiary. Indian companies listed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq are internet services provider Satyam Infoway and consulting and software company Infosys Technologies.
Silverline provides technology solutions for e-commerce, systems maintenance, internet and multimedia development and customer relations management. The company had $87.5 million in revenue in 1999 and made a net profit of $16.7 million. Its US unit, Silverline Technologies Inc., is based in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Silverline's shares have risen 185% to Rs538.2 ($12.05) in the last year. They reached a 52-week high of Rs1,395 on 22 February this year. Some 4,668,369 shares traded hands yesterday, more than twice the daily average of 1,981,627.
Silverline, which has 920 employees in India and 430 in the US, is listed on the Mumbai Stock Exchange, the Madras Stock Exchange and the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange. It plans to use the proceeds of the offering to expand its facilities, increase its sales and marketing budget and make acquisitions and strategic investments.
The US offering is being underwritten by Salomon Smith Barney, with co-managers ABN Amro and Jefferies & Co. in the US and co-managers ABN Amro and Credit Lyonnais outside the US.
