Government-owned Hindustan Copper, which is scheduled to hit the capital market in the second week of December to offload 20% stake with a follow on public offer, is likely to rope in anchor investors from the US and Singapore.
Hindustan Copper CMD Shakeel Ahmed told FE that a team comprising mines ministry, department of disinvestment and Hind Copper officials along with the merchant bankers?UBS, SMC Capital, Kotak Mahindra, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, ICICI Securities and SBI Caps, has started scouting for anchor investors from September.
?We have identified some investors in the US, Singapore and Australia but investors are likely to be roped in from the US and Singapore,? Ahmed said, adding that a final decision on anchor investors is yet to be taken.
An official said if anchor investors are allowed to invest through qualified institutional placement, then 15% of the total offer can be reserved for them. But the final limit would be declared by Sebi and the call on anchor investors would be taken seven days before the issue, the official said.
In fact, with the follow on public offer on the anvil, Hind Copper?s second quarter results have shown huge improvements with profit after tax going up at Rs 56.21 crore against only Rs 15.10 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal. The six month?s results also show a leap in profits from Rs 15.33 crore during the second quarter of FY10 to Rs 82.41 crore in the second quarter of FY11. According to Ahmed, the company?s improvement in results have been mainly due to its exit from low margins, high risk businesses coupled with higher production of copper ore & metal in concentrate and higher price realisation from LME.