Public sector undertaking National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) will come out with its initial public offering (IPO) by this month-end.
Ten per cent of the equity is to be divested in the company, which offers project management consultancy (PMC) services for civil construction projects, creates civil infrastructure for power sector and is into real estate development.
In an interview with this correspondent here on Friday, NBCC Chairman-cum-Managing Director Vishnu P. Das said the government's emphasis on infrastructure development augured well for the company. The operations of the company were well spread geographically — it was working in 23 States — and the order book at present was about Rs.10,640 crore. “PMC is our strength,” he said.
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As regards the IPO, Mr. Das said it would be made in the current fiscal and 1.2 crore equity shares of the face value of Rs.10 each were to be offered. The date, price band and the amount to be raised would be decided by the government, he replied to a query. On the timing of the issue, particularly in the backdrop of the disinvestment drama of ONGC, Pramod Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Department of Disinvestment, Ministry of Finance, said NBCC's was a small IPO and it should not be compared with that of the oil major. The market, he added, “is waiting for IPOs… there hardly have been any IPOs this year and it [NBCC IPO] should not be a problem. Moreover, the response to MCX has been good.”
Ajay K. Garg, Director (Finance) of NBCC, said an overwhelming 92 per cent of the total income of the company is from PMC, while civil works and real estate account for the balance. The company has been consistently paying dividend to the government.
To a query pertaining to real estate development and land bank of the company, Mr. Das said it had 126 acres and the land parcels were in different States.
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Anoop Kumar Mittal, Director (Projects), said the company was also involved in projects in a few Union Territories and in Maldives and Turkey.