Nandan Biomatrix to go in for IPO this year

Hyderabad-based Nandan Biomatrix Limited is planning to go in for an initial public offer during the current calendar year.

Speaking to Business Standard, V Bhaskar Rao, managing director of Nandan Biomatrix, said: "We have filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for the necessary clearances and therefore we cannot disclose the size and the exact date of the IPO. All I can say is that it would be during 2005."

The company has signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government to set up a 400-acre processing park at Zaheerabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The park is expected to be completed in the next three to five years.

According to Rao, the company is embarking on the project with an outlay of Rs 22.5 crore out of which Rs 6.5 crore would be through private equity while the rest would be raised through various financial institutions.

"The company itself is setting up three extraction units which would come up in the park by May. For each of the extraction unit the company is investing Rs 4 crore," Rao said. The state government has come forward and we expect a grant of Rs 10 crore. Other central government agencies have also come forward to help us in setting up the common infrastructure, he added.

"The park would have research and development facilities for the cultivation of herbal medicines and bio-diesel plantations. UK-based DI Oils Limited has also agreed to invest Rs 1 crore in developing a common R&D centre. Apart from our own extraction units, we also expect another 17 companies to set up their extraction units at the park," he said.

Nandan Biomatrix, which achieved a turnover of Rs 7 crore last year, expects its turnover to touch Rs 25 crore by the end of the current fiscal.

The company, according to Rao, has already recorded a turnover of Rs 17 crore so far. "We expect to close the next fiscal with a turnover of Rs 100 crore," Rao said.