Va Tech Wabag, the country’s largest water treatment company, will soon debut on the stock exchanges. The Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) has been filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the initial public offer (IPO) may happen within six months.
The Rs 1,155-crore company is approaching the capital markets to accumulate money to bid for Build-Own-Operate and Transfer (BOOT) water treatment projects, and for acquisitions. It also wants to create information technology systems within the company.
“The retail portion of the IPO will be about 35 per cent. The primary issue is likely to be for Rs 123 crore. We are working out the details with bankers on the quantum of funds to be raised,” said S Varadarajan, a promoter and chief financial officer of Chennai-based Va Tech Wabag.
Enam Securities and IDFC Capital are lead managers for the issue.
The promoters — Rajiv Mittal, Amit Sengupta, Shiv Narayan Saraf and S Varadarajan — hold 37.45 per cent stake in the company. ICICI Venture, which was earlier holding 31 per cent stake in the company, had exited partially.
Some foreign institutional investors also hold a minority stake.
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In 1999, the Austrian group VA Tech acquired the water business of Deutsche Babcock, operating under the Wabag brand name. Va Tech Wabag Ltd was formed in 2000 and six years later, the majority shareholding of the company was acquired by ICICI Venture and the promoters.
In 2007, Va Tech, the Indian subsidiary, had acquired its parent, Va Tech Wabag GmbH of Austria from Siemens for about $100 million
For the year ended March 31, 2009, the company had consolidated income and total profit after tax of Rs 1,155 crore and Rs 34.9 crore, respectively. Its order book on December 31, 2009, was Rs 3,171 crore.