VCCircle

Delhi-based telecom infrastructure and power solutions company Acme Tele Power Ltd is raising Rs 600-800 crore in a pre-IPO private equity placement. The investors include Capital Partners and a Delhi-based unnamed industrialist, according to The Economic Times. Sources told VC Circle that the second investor is Shyam Bhartia of Jubilant Organosys. He is already on the board of Acme. The investors are believed to have picked up 5 to 7 per cent in the company.
If the deal is happening at this price, that values the company at Rs 11,000-12,000 crore ($2.75-3 billion).
The company had been chased by a lot of investors for sometime, however a deal did not happen since the valuations had shot up. Kotak Mahindra, Ernst & Young and UBS are said to be advisors in the transaction.
Now the company has decided to go in for an IPO for which Draft Red Herring Prospectus would be submitted to market regulator SEBI this week.
According to ET, Acme had revenues of Rs 650 crore in 2006-07, and is expected to almost double this year. The company, started in 2003, apparently had only Rs 30 lakh sales in the first year. Probably the fast growth - along with the telecom boom (Indian cellular market is as big as 165 million subscribers) - has resulted in high valuations not only for telecom service providers but also for infrastructure service providers.
Recently, Reliance Telecom Infrastructure Ltd sold 5 per cent stake to a group of investors for $337.5 million. Acme also has a unique business model where it provides telcos energy saving solutions or "green shelters". So it's a cleantech company too. The company is also reportedly looking at an acquisition in Ghana. It had recently bought a Czech fuel cell company for $50 million.