The Hindu Business Line : Bharati Shipyard IPO opens on Dec 2

BHARATI Shipyard Ltd, one of India's leading shipyards in the private sector, is entering the capital market on December 2 with an IPO of 1.25 crore equity shares of face value Rs 10 each at a price band of Rs 55 to Rs 66 per share through 100 per cent book-building route.

The issue, which will constitute 55.56 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue paid-up capital of the company, is to part finance its Rs 65-crore expansion programme.

The expansion project includes increasing its shipbuilding capacity from the present 9,000 DWT to 25,000 DWT and construction of a new jetty.

Out of the present issue, 10 per cent of the shares are reserved for allotment to permanent employees of the company, 50 per cent for allocation to qualified institutional buyers on discretionary basis, 25 per cent for non-institutional bidders and 25 per cent for retail individual bidders.

The company had notched up an income and net profit of Rs 121.70 crore and Rs 5.9 crore respectively in the last fiscal.

In the first six months of the current fiscal, the company's income was Rs 98.90 crore and net profit Rs 14.4 crore, the increase being mainly due to the surge in shipbuilding market as a result of the buoyant freight market.

Mr P.C. Kapoor, company's Managing Director, told presspersons here on Tuesday that the company was in the business of building tugs, offshore vessels, cargo vessels and bitumen tankers. Its top-drawer clients include Great Eastern Shipping, Halul Offshore Services, Reliance Industries, Tartous Port Trust and Al Jabar Shipping Establishment.

"Our current order book consists of 12 vessels valued at a total of Rs 422.60 crore. We expect to increase our flow of orders in the coming months due to buoyancy in the market," he pointed out.

Mr Kapoor said the company was in the process of acquiring Pinky Shipyard Ltd at Goa, which was expected to be wrapped up within a month.