Kotak Mahindra Capital is the book running lead manager (BRLM) to the offer. Apart from Kotak Mahindra Capital, JM Morgan Stanley is the other member of the group of syndicate members. Syndicate members are the members who are authorised to accept the bid offer forms from the bidders.

For the current issue, the BRLM is using the NSE terminals, and the facility to submit bids is available at eight different centres around the country.

Through its maiden public offering, the Delhi-based HSS isoffering 43.75 lakh shares of which 39,37,500 shares are offered through book building. The balance 4,37,500 shares, the fixed price portion, will be up for the public subscription after the final price is arrived at through the book building route which is scheduled for September 29.

The final book building process for the HSS IPO would begin on September 22 and would close on September 28. The latter offer would open on October 7 and close on October 12. According to Vimal Khanna, vice president (finance) and chief finance officer, HSS, the price band for the bidders was evaluated by the merchant bankers to the issue after seeking the expected bids from the leading institutions during the last fortnight.

To tap the overseas investors, the company has simultaneously kicked off road shows in the USA and other countries. On Tuesday a team is also leaving for Singapore, Hong Kong and some other east-Asian countries with the same purpose.

Of the total shares being offered, 8,75,000 shares represent newequity, while 35,00,000 shares constitute an offer for sale by existing shareholders. With this, the holding of the promoter group, consisting of Hughes Electronics Corporation, USA-HNS Inc of UAS and HNS-Mauritius Holdings will drop from the current 76.19 per cent to 56.14 per cent of the company's equity.

HSS' main area of focus is communications software, a market that has been estimated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 13.5 per cent on the current US$ 15.5 billion to US$ 80 billion by the year 2020.

HSS started its operations in 1992 as a dedicated software development centre in Delhi and Bangalore and has executed customised software development projects and product sales for 29 customers in the USA, Europe and Asia of which 20 are new customers.

Over the next two to three years, the company plans to progressively move from making component products to higher value complete solution products. A key factor in the company's business strategy is to develop a rich set of intellectualproperty rights (IPRs).

The main objectives of the offer are to provide resources for the company's ongoing capital expenditure for funding acquisitions as well as to meet increased working capital requirements.

The company ended the last financial year with revenues of Rs 87.27 crore and earned a net profit of Rs 22.40 crore. In the current year, the company is expected to achieve a total income of Rs 105.40 crore and a net profit of Rs 26.20 crore.