Engineering firm Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) is likely to list its subsidiary Lavasa Corporation to raise Rs. 750 crore during July-September period of this fiscal year, top company official said.
The company, which was supposed to launch the initial public offer (IPO) for Lavasa last fiscal year, had shelved its plans citing unfavourable market conditions.
“We were supposed to launch the IPO last fiscal, but we delayed the decision as we did not find the right appetite in the primary market mainly due to uncertain economic environment. We may now look at launching it (IPO) in the second quarter of this fiscal,” said HCC Group chief financial officer Praveen Sood.
In 2014, the company had filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise Rs 750 crore through IPO and was cleared in November. This was HCC’s second effort to hit the capital market.
Earlier, in November 2010, Lavasa had got market regulator Sebi’s clearance to raise up to Rs. 2,000 crore but bad market conditions had forced the company to scrap it.
“At present, the secondary market is booming and we are waiting for investors to return to the primary market. We are seeing some QIPs being launched in the market, but very little activity in the primary market,” Mr. Sood said.
“But at the same time, we are also seeing some signs of improvement in the market conditions with some of the major projects coming on stream.”
In the first week of April 2015, HCC raised Rs. 400 crore equity through the QIP route.
At present, the HCC group holds 67.98 per cent stake in Lavasa Corporation, while the remaining 17 per cent is held by Avantha Group.
Venkateshwara Hatcheries and Maniar & Family holds 8.80 per cent and 6.22 per cent shares, respectively.
