Avantha Power plans Rs 1,000-1,500 cr IPO

Avantha Power and Infrastructure is planning to revive plans to hit the capital market with an Initial Public Offer (IPO) to raise Rs 1,000-1,500 crore, after having failed in its first attempt about two years ago.

The company, part of the Gautam Thapar-led Avantha group, is currently in the process of finalising its initial plans for the IPO.

It may look at raising Rs 1,000-1,500 crore through the share sale, sources added.

A spokesperson of Avantha group did not reply to queries about the IPO plans.

Avantha Power & Infrastructure Limited (APIL) is a power generation company with 191 MW of operational thermal power capacity, 2,460 MW of generating capacity under various stages of implementation and 1,320 MW of generating capacity under planning.

Once all of these projects have achieved commercial operation, the company will have total installed capacity of 3,971 MW. Global private equity giant KKR has reportedly invested in the company.

Avantha Power had filed draft IPO documents with Sebi way back in March 2010 and the regulator gave its go-ahead a few months later in August that year for the public offer.

While the company had firmed up its plans to hit the market in October, adverse market conditions forced it to postpone the IPO.

Earlier, the IPO was said to have been postponed till the last quarter of the fiscal year 2011-12, but persisting sluggishness in the market conditions had kept the company's IPO plans on hold.

However, a relative improvement witnessed in the past few weeks seems to have led to the company reviving its IPO plans, sources said.

As Sebi's previous go-ahead for the IPO has already expired, the company would have to again file the draft prospectus with the regulator.

APIL's 191 MW operational power capacity is primarily captive in nature. It has four wholly-owned power plants in Ballarpur and Bhigwan (both in Maharashtra), Yamunanagar (Haryana) and Sewa (Orissa). It also has a 59 per cent stake in a gas-fired plant at Malanpur (Madhya Pradesh).

APIL's two thermal power projects in Raigarh (Chhattisgarh) and Seoni (Madhya Pradesh) are under various stages of implementation and one thermal power project in Gujarat is under planning.

APIL sells and intends to sell the power generated from its operational, under implementation and under planning projects through power purchase agreement (PPAs) of various durations and also on a merchant basis.

It is part of the $4 billion Avantha Group whose listed group companies include Crompton Greaves Limited and Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT).