The Centre is mulling over offloading 10 per cent stake through a public offer in hydro power company Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVNL) this fiscal and is hoping to raise Rs 1,200 crore.
After National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC), SJVNL will be the second hydro power company in which the government will divest its stake through initial pubic offer.
SJVNL is a joint venture between the Centre and Himachal Pradesh government in the ratio of 75:25.
Earlier, the government has finalised the IPO of National Hydro Power Corporation. The government would offload five per cent of its shareholding in it hoping to raise Rs 840 crore plus the premium charged on each share of face value Rs 10. NHPC will raise Rs 1,680 crore by way of fresh equity.
"The public offering to offload government's 10 per cent shareholding may happen by the end of this fiscal. The state government (Himachal Pradesh) has already given a 'No Objection Certificate' (NoC) for the disinvestment," SJVNL Chairman and Managing Director H K Sharma told PTI.
The company has announced an investment of over Rs 23,000 crore in the next 10 years to add 4,000 Mw capacity to its existing 1,500 Mw.
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"In the next ten years or so we will be investing over Rs 23,000 crore for executing our projects...(we have) projects of about 4,000 Mw capacity lined up for commissioning by 2020," Sharma said.
The new projects include two hydro projects of 900 Mw and 600 Mw capacity in Bhutan and one 800 Mw Arun-III hydro power project in Nepal, he said, adding the company is executing Arun-III on a BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer) basis and about 600-700 Mw of electricity generated at the project would be transmitted to India.
Asked about the sources of funding for these projects, Sharma said, "At present, we have cash reserves worth Rs 1,300 crore and all the projects are being developed in the debt-equity ratio of 70:30."
He asserted that for the equity portion the company need not take any debt.
The company is hoping to record a turnover of about Rs 1,600 crore and a net profit of Rs 900 crore from its existing operations of 1,500 Mw Nathpa Jhakri hydro project in Himachal Pradesh.
SJVNL is in the process of adding another 400 Mw capacity in Rampur, for which the company has already received $400 million from the World Bank and the project (phase-II of existing Nathpa Jhakri) is likely to be commissioned by 2012.
The company would offer 31 crore shares of Rs 10 face value each and is hoping to fetch over Rs 1,200 crore from the capital market.
Currently, the government holds 75 per cent stake in SJVNL and the Himachal Pradesh government has the remaining 25 per cent.
The disinvestment is planned only for the Centre's shares and the company is not going to raise any fresh equity.
Asked whether the state government can increase its shareholding in the company, Sharma said it can if they (HP government) want to subscribe to during the IPO offer.