NHPC IPO price fixed at Rs 36 per equity share

Raises Rs 6,048 crore through recently concluded IPO

The Indian government fixed a price of Rs 36 a share for the allotment of shares in the initial public offer (IPO) of state-run hydropower generator NHPC, thus raising Rs 6,048 crore through the recently concluded public issue. The IPO, biggest since the Reliance Power issue in January 2007, was subscribed 23.5 times. The IPO received bids for 3981.26 crore shares as against 168 crore shares offered by the company.

The qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) category was subscribed 29.16 times. Investors in this category put in bids for 2861.44 crore shares as against 98.12 crore shares reserved for this category.

The non institutional investor category, made up of high net worth individuals and corporate investors, was subscribed 56.70 times. The category mopped up bids for 927.41 crore shares as against 16.35 crore shares set aside by the company.

The retail investor category was subscribed 3.87 times. Total bids in this category were for 190.01 crore shares as against 49.06 crore shares assigned by the company.

The NHPC IPO, in which investors were asked to bid for shares in the price range of Rs 30-36 a share, opened on 7 August 2009 and closed on 12 August 2009.

The shares on sale during the offer included the government's 5% equity and 10% of fresh equity issued by the PSU.

The government would get Rs 2,016 crore while NHPC would retain the remaining Rs 4,032 crore. Post IPO, the government's stake would come down to little over 86% in the power PSU.

NHPC is the largest hydroelectric power generating company in the country. With an installed capacity of 4,815 megawatt (MW), NHPC has 11 projects under construction aggregating to a total capacity of 4,622 MW. The new projects are likely to be commissioned by 2012.

NHPC would use the IPO proceeds to part fund its ongoing investments in 11 projects. It also has plans to add 14,000 MW of power by 2020 for which it has either completed survey of projects or was in the process of surveying several others.

NHPC's consolidated net profit rose 3% to Rs 1244.15 crore on 19.2% growth in sales to Rs 3493.71 crore in the year ended March 2009 (FY 2009) over the year ended March 2008.

On post-IPO equity of Rs 12300.74 crore, the EPS for FY 2009 works out to Rs 1 and the PE is 36 times at the offer price band of Rs 36 per share.