India Seeks Merchant Banks for Cochin Shipyard IPO
Indian Government has initiated procedures for sale of shares of Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) by seeking expression of interest (EoI) from merchant bankers to manage the initial public offering (IPO).
The listing will involve the sale of some 33.98m shares, of which 22.66m will be primary and 11.33m secondary shares offered by the country, which wants to offload a 10% stake. Cochin Shipyard had a paid up share capital of Rs1.13bn ($16.65m) and a net worth of Rs15.61bn.
"The proposed IPO will see the government reduce its stake in the company by 10%. Cochin Shipyard will also issue fresh shares through the IPO to raise capital for funding future growth plans," says a company statement.
The government will appoint up to three merchant bankers for managing the IPO.
The 44-year-old shipyard is currently building an indigenous aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy. The firm was awarded the Miniratna-I status in 2008 in recognition of its performance.
The yard has the capacity to build ships up to 110,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT, a measure of the weight a ship can safely carry) and undertake repairs to ships of up to 125,000 DWT.
