Mid-Day Multimedia, the holding company of the Mid-Day group, is planning to hive off its outdoor advertising and television businesses into two separate companies.

The move comes at a time when the company is evaluating bids for picking up a strategic stake in the company.

The company had earlier spun-off its Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) outdoor business into a separate company but had again integrated it with itself to meet the net worth eligibility criteria in the bidding process for government contracts.

Manajit Ghoshal, chief financial officer, Mid-Day Multimedia, told Business Standard, "We are not looking at government contracts anymore for outdoor media business. The move will also ensure a sharper focus on our core line of operation. Further, we are planning an expansion of our business activities on a national scale."

Mid-Day marked its foray into the TV space through a content tie-up with Zee Telefilms, and it will be launching a news cum-entertainment channel in the near future. It is also set to foray into Bollywood with a film 'Black Friday'.

After spinning-off the outdoor business into a separate company, the shareholding of SSI Media -- a 53 per cent Chennai-based subsidiary -- would be transferred to the newly formed outdoor company, Ghoshal added. SSI is one of the largest BOT contractors in Chennai.

Its outdoor advertising business in Mumbai is one of the biggest in the city. It currently controls major tender contracts for the outdoor business such as advertising in Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport buses and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation sites.