Monday, January 21, 2008

IRB Infra Developers IPO To Raise Up To 11 Bn Rupees

MUMBAI: Construction firm IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd plans to raise up to 11.23 billion rupees ($288 million) from an initial public offering, scheduled to begin on Jan. 31.

The Mumbai-based firm, which primarily works on road projects, has set a price band of 185 to 220 rupees a share for its book-built public offer, a company official said on Monday.

The offer of 51 million shares constitutes 15.36 percent of the diluted, post issue capital of the company, the official, who declined to be named, said. IRB will use the sale proceeds for repaying 7.2 billion rupees of existing loans and invest in a subsidiary which holds rights to the 65-kilometres Bharuch-Surat toll road project.

The company, which counts Gammon India Hindustan Construction Co and IVRCL Infrastructures among competitors, plans to focus on road projects in western India and is also diversifying into real estate.

It has outlined plans to develop a 1,400-acre integrated township near Pune in western Maharashtra, according to its draft prospectus. For the year to March 2007, IRB posted consolidated net profit of 300 million rupees on revenue of 3.1 billion rupees. Its order book on June 30, 2007 stood at 23.86 billion rupees, the official said.

Ahead of the public offer, IRB issued 11.35 million shares each to Deutsche Bank, and units of Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, at 77.55 rupees a share. Deutsche Bank and Kotak Mahindra Capital Co are lead managers to the issue.

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