WDC offloads 15% to Usha Martin VC

CALCUTTA: Calcutta-based Web Development Company (WDC) of the Shrachi Group

has offloaded 15 per cent stake to Usha Martin Venture Capital Ltd, at a price

if Rs 4 crore. DSP Merill Lynch has valued the company at between Rs 30 crore

and Rs 40 crore. WDC is contemplating a further dilution of 10 per cent for

which it is holding talks with various venture capitalists like ICICI,

Infrastructure Leasing & Finance Company and ING Barings.

WDC executive director Harsh Hada said, "We are considering diluting an

additional 10 per cent stake in the next six months. This is in keeping with the

company’s plans of going public within a year." WDC plans to float an IPO

for raising Rs 25 crore. "We are looking at gathering around Rs 50 crore in

the next phase of dilution. We also aim to record a turnover of Rs 9 crore in

the second quarter, which is double last year’s results," said Halda.

According to Halda, the company has registered a 650 per cent growth in

turnover from Rs 68.9 lakh in 1998-99 to Rs 4.4 crore in 1999-2000. There are

plans to demerge WDC’s portal business into a separate entity. WDC plans to

increase its number of employees from the present 120 to 400 by the end of the

current fiscal. It will also set up offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and a

marketing office in the UK.