 |
| Power Finance Corporation FPO |
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had announced plans to raise Rs 40,000 crore through divestment programme in fiscal year 2011-12.
The price band at Rs 193-203 per share has been fixed for the PFC issue, which opens today. The firm-- a Navratna financial institution that lends to power projects- is offering a discount of 5 per cent in the issue price to retail bidders and eligible employees.
The offer will opens on May 10 and close on May 13. It comprises a fresh issue of 172,165,005 equity shares and an offer for sale of 57,388,335 equity shares by the government that holds about 89 per cent stake in PFC.
The government is divesting 5 per cent of its stake in the public sector company. It first divested 10 per cent stake through an initial public offering (IPO) in March 2007.
PFC said it intends to utilise the 15 per cent fresh equity generated through the FPO proceeds in augmenting its capital base to ensure compliance with requisite capital adequacy norms and for future capital requirements.
Power sector, a key infrastructure area, is perceived as the main driver of India's higher economic growth. The 11th Plan (2007-12) targeted 78,700 MW installed power generation capacity addition, while the 12th Plan (2012-17) aims at adding 1,00,000 MW.
The Government of India had taken several positive measures towards power sector development, PFC Chairman & Managing Director Satnam Singh told reporters here.
Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs), which will result in significant generation capacity addition, particularly from 12th Plan onwards, and Large Independent Transmission Projects on the lines of UMPPs will enable significant strengthening of transmission infrastructure, he said.
The company's future strategy will be to accelerate growth by expanding the business in the core sector, which is power sector and also by spinning off the new business units/ subsidiaries into individual companies with significant income stream, which will remain focused exclusively in their domain of operations, Singh said.
"As a part of corporate plan, we have identified other potential business areas like foray into banking, international markets, capacity building initiatives, strategic alliances with domestic and global institutions," he said.
The company is planning to float a separate company for funding of wind and solar power projects, the CMD said.
PFC will be appointing a consultant to study the feasibility of foraying into banking services and would decide on a plan based on the report, Singh said.
