Hydro power producer NHPC will hit the capital market for Initial Public Offer to raise Rs 1,670 crore fresh equity before Diwali in October, says Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh.
Besides, NHPC's plans to raise Rs 1,670 crore fresh equity through IPO, government will also divest its five per cent stake as part of disinvestment.
The company has lined up whopping Rs 28,000 crore investment till 2012 to become over 10,000 MW utility from the present 5,200 MW generation capacity and the proceeds from the IPO would be partly utilised to finance the expansion programme.
It plans to bring 167 crore shares of face value of Rs 10 each, which would be offered at a premium to be decided through book building process.
The company has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India on August 6.
NHPC had filed DRHP in April last year also but it was rejected by SEBI as the company did not have the required strength of non-official directors on board that now they have.
The public sector company accounts for 3.7 per cent of country's total power generation capacity.
The company plans to pump in another Rs 35,000 crore after the XIth Five-Year-Plan (2007-12) for further expansion and is currently implementing country's largest hydro-electric project, 2,000 MW Subansiri Lower Project in Arunachal Pradesh.