Avantha Power, part of Gautam Thapar promoted Avantha Group, today said it is looking at raising up to Rs 1,000 crore through an initial public offer (IPO) in 12-18 months.
"We still do not have any fixed time for the listing of the company, but I think it will be in 12-18 months," Avantha Group Finance Director B Hariharan told PTI.
On the size of funding, he said, the company is looking at "around Rs 750 crore to Rs 1,000 crore".
Avantha Power is setting up two plants of 600 Mw each in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh at a cost of Rs 5,600 crore, the financing for which has been already tied up — 30 per cent equity and the rest through debt.
Hariharan said, however, Avantha Power will need more funding for expansion. "We are not going to stop at 1,200 Mw. Our target is to make it into 5,000 Mw company in 5-6 years."
He said the power business is expected to show the biggest revenue growth for the Avantha Group, which includes companies like paper major Ballarpur Industries (Bilt) and Crompton Greaves.
"The two plants are going to be ready by 2012. We expect them to generate business worth Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore each year. So, in terms of revenue, the biggest growth is going to come from the power business," Hariharan said.
At present, Avantha Power has captive capacity of 165 Mw and generates around Rs 300 crore in business.
