-by Parinda Bureau, December 30, 2005, 10:15 IST

AB corp, erstwhile Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited, is all set to go public. Over ten years ago, Amitabh set up this company to 'corporatise' filmmaking coinciding with the time of his comeback. Plans went awry and ABCL was left with debts of crores and huge losses, being declared a sick company. Bachchan's 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' and the large number of endorsements, with support from Sahara and the Amar Singh faction, helped ABCL get back on its feet again.

Now ABCL has plans to go public and get listed on BSE and NSE. Sources also said that a little before Amitabh was hospitalised, there was a meeting with investment banks. ABCL was originally formed in 1987, after merging Sopan Leasing, a subsidiary of Tansi Investments owned by Amitabh, Jaya and Amitabh’s estranged brother, Ajitabh Bachchan. However, the company existed only on paper till 1994. Besides, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, HFCL promoter Vinay Maloo also holds around 30% equity in AB Corp.

There are also talks about Anil Ambani being in talks to acquire a stake in ABCL. Anil Ambani has always had more than a passing interest in showbusiness and over the last one year, has acquired a stake in Manmohan Shetty's Adlabs films. Adlabs, headed by Manmohan Shetty is into film processing, film financing and exhibition. Buying a stake in ABCL would make synergistic sense for him, say sources, since ABCL is a established production house. Sources also added that if the deal materialised. Ambani may get stock at a price lower than the IPO price.