Incorporated in 1995, the company has been promoted by Ambuj A Kasliwal, Vikas S Kasliwal, Nitin S Kasliwal and Mukul S Kasliwal. S. Kumars group promotes nine other companies - S. Kumars Synfabs (which is listed), S. Kumars Infrastructure Development Corporation (listed), S. Kumars Ltd, S. Kumars Tyre Manufacturing, Manor Textiles, S. Kumars Textiles, S. Kumars. Com (which will be shortly listed), S. Kumars PowerGen & Development and S. Kumars Retailer Services.

S. Kumars Power is the holding company of Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation, the special purpose vehicle formed for the purpose of setting up a power project on the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh.

The 400 mw hydel power project is being set up at Mandleshwar, about 100 km from Indore. The company is not directly involved in power generation and is dependent on the income generated from the services rendered to its subsidiary.

The company has invested Rs 136.52 crore in the wholly-owned subsidiary. Importantly, a non governmental organisation has raised several objections on environmental and rehabilitation grounds.

IFCI has estimated the total project cost at Rs 1881 crore. The civil work for the power project, which is scheduled to complete in 2002, was already began and major contracts have been awarded to Siemens AG, Germany and ABB S. A. The project is being funded through a mix of equity to the tune of Rs 582.28 crore and debt of around Rs 1023 crore.

The past performance of the company is hardly impressive. For the 15-month period ended June 30, 1997, the company reported a net profit of Rs 57.83 lakh on total income of Rs 2.8 crore. For the 15-month period ended September 1998, total income jumped to Rs 4.03 crore, but net profit fell to Rs 50.93 lakh.

For the nine-month period ended June 30, 1999, the company reported a net profit of Rs 13.98 lakh on total income of Rs 2.35 crore. The company has a large equity base of Rs 60 crore, but its earnings are too low to service this equity. Since its inception, the company's earning per share has always been below Rs 1. The company is operating on a return on networth of 0.3 per cent and has a bookvalue of Rs 10.14. Lead managed by Fedex Securities, the offer for sale opens on December 14 and closes on December 20.