BRNL's IPO not yet the road to travel

With young assets, the firm could take some time before its starts reporting profit at the net level

Bharat Road Network Ltd (BRNL), a 30.4 per cent subsidiary of SREI Infrastructure Finance, is a build-operate-transfer (BOT) player in the roads segment. The portfolio of assets is large, with five operating and one under-construction project, totalling 1,622 km across Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.

However, the initial public offering (IPO) is unattractive, due to weak financial performance in the past and the valuations.

The company, gearing up to grow its business, plans to utilise Rs 372 crore of the IPO proceeds of about Rs 600 crore for acquisition of subordinated debt held by SREI (related