Info Edge (BOM: 532777) India (the Naukri.com Group) has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that the company’s board of directors will meet today (21st of December) to “discuss raising of capital through various available mechanisms in India and overseas”. While it isn’t specified what they intend to raise capital for, they may either consider a fresh issue of shares in the Indian market, raising money from private equity players or an international listing. It’s also probable that the company is considering raising more money from its existing venture investors - Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sherpalo Ventures and ICICI Venture. The share closed marginally up at around Rs. 1291 on both exchanges yesterday.

Naukri has also invested $500,000 in US based Study Places Inc, via it’s recently established Mauritius subsidiary...there’s no mention of how much stake they’ve picked up. Naukri had initially proposed to invest $1 million in the company. StudyPlaces.com is an information resource for education search, and probably has synergies with Naukri’s proposed education portal Shiksha.com. I’d heard rumors of Naukri planning to invest in an information portal for overseas education earlier this year, but that had been denied at the time. Naukri had set aside Rs. 30 crores of its IPO money for acquisitions and investment, and this is their first investment, of only around Rs. 2 crores. They’re being rather conservative with their investments.

Disclaimer: I have an inconsequential number of shares of Naukri