indiainfo.com to acquire India Abroad Publications Inc

INTERNET company and portal indiainfo.com announced on Tuesday that it would merge with India Abroad Publications Inc, the oldest Indian newspaper in North America, and the largest outside of India

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INTERNET company and portal indiainfo.com announced on Tuesday that it would merge with India Abroad Publications Inc, the oldest Indian newspaper in North America, and the largest outside of India. The deal was signed by Raj Koneru, chairman, indiainfo.com and Gopal Raju, founder and chairman, India Abroad Group.

The agreement says indiainfo.com will gain access to India Abroad's huge content repository of news and events as well as content generated by its business affiliate, the New Delhi-based India Abroad News Service (IANS), in which it holds a minority stake. IA Publications has editions in New York Tri-State (New York/New Jersey/Connecticut), New York East Coast, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Toronto and claims a 65,000-plus circulation in the US alone. It also has three sister publications, namely India in New York, Gujarat Times, and Sher-E-Punjab. The company had revenues of under $10m in 1999.

The deal is a part-stock, part-cash arrangement - the size and structure of which has not been disclosed. Following the merger Gopal Raju, who owns 95 per cent of India Abroad Publications will get a significant stake in indiainfo.com Pvt Ltd. India Abroad will operate as a indiainfo.com subsidiary and will be retained as a brand in foreign countries. On the other hand, indiainfo.com will brand and promote its international edition as Indiaabroad.com.

The merger will be concurrent to indiainfo.com's initial public offering. Indiainfo plans an IPO to raise funds for working capital, and creating infrastructure. However, Koneru did not disclose where the company would do its IPO.

Meanwhile, indiainfo has kicked off B2B internet services on its portal. The portal will focus on business opportunities for the Indian communities globally, company officials said. It recently concluded the acquisition of musicurry.com a web radio site and also offered 30 per cent of its stake to VSNL in exchange for being the default login page for all VSNL subscribers.

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