HCC's QIP and Lavasa Corporation IPO likely in FY16

Infrastructure major Hindustan Construction Company has deferred plans to list its subsidiary Lavasa Corporation for raising Rs 750 crore through initial public offer to next fiscal, a top company official said.

It has also shelved plans to raise another Rs 750 crore through an issue of equity shares to qualified institutional investors to next fiscal.

"Considering the current market conditions, which are not in favour of launching a new IPO or a QIP, we have decided to wait for sometime. However, we expect this to improve in the coming months. If the market is conducive, we may launch the two issues in 2015-16," Group Chief Financial Officer Praveen Sood told PTI here.

Last year in July, the company had filed draft documents with the market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to raise Rs 750 crore through IPO, which were cleared in November.

This is the company's second effort to hit the capital market. In November 2010, Lavasa had got the Sebi clearance for an IPO to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore, but bad market conditions forced the company to scrap the plan.

The HCC group currently holds 68.72 per cent stake in Lavasa Corporation.

Last year, HCC had also received broad approval to raise up to Rs 750 crore through QIP, which the company wanted to use it to repay debt and get it out of the CDR cell ahead of schedule.

In 2012, HCC went in for corporate debt restructuring (CDR). Loans to the tune of Rs 3,300 crore were restructured by a consortium of 27 lenders.

"Currently, the secondary market is booming and we are waiting for the investors to return to the primary market. Also there is not much improvement in the infrastructure sector with not many new orders coming in and delay in decision making. We hope things will improve over a period," he said.

The company reported a five-fold jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 27.1 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 on the back of higher turnover.

It had posted a net profit of Rs 5.4 crore in the October-December quarter of the previous fiscal.

The turnover in Q3 registered 29 per cent growth at Rs 1,123.6 crore compared to Rs 870.4 crore in the previous year.

HCC's gross debt currently stands at Rs 4,929 crore, while net debt at Rs 4,848 crore.

The current order book of the company stands at Rs 14,307 crore, excluding L1 contracts worth Rs 1,176 crore.