Vikram Solar Ltd, an arm of Kolkata-based Vikram Group, is planning to hit the capital markets through an initial public offering (IPO) in 2012 to fund its expansion plans, a top company official said here today. The company would invest about Rs 1,700 crore in solar power business in next five years
“To fund some of our expansion plans, we are planning to hit the capital market with an IPO by the end of next year as the investment would be large. We are planning to invest Rs 1,700 crore in integrated wafer, cell and module manufacturing over a period of five years,” said Gyanesh Chaudhary, Director, Vikram Solar. However, Chaudhary didn’t mention about the size of the IPO.
Meanwhile, the company has entered into a tie up with Spanish solar company Proener Renovables to take up engineering, construction and procurement (EPC) contracts of large solar power projects. The newly-formed joint venture company Vikram-Proener project will have a 51 per cent, while Proener will hold the rest 49 per cent.
As its maiden project, the joint venture will construct a 2 mega watt (MW) project at Raipur, Chattisgarh, with an expected investment of about Rs 25 crore. The company targets to generate revenues of Rs 1,000 crore in the coming three years and Rs 250 crore in its first year of operations. It is also planning to double capacity of photovoltaic cell (PV) plant in Falta SEZ in West Bengal.
Meanwhile, Chaudhary said that the company has applied for a 5 MW power manufacturing facility in Gujarat and Rajasthan. “For this, we will float a separate arm of Vikram Group. The plant may be near Bhuj in Gujarat,” he added. However, the firm is looking for a location outside West Bengal for solar wafer manufacturing facility.