Lavasa Corporation could be revisiting its IPO plans soon. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) group president Rajgopal Nogja said the company would like to go to the market and its priority was to first build confidence in the project among stakeholders. This will not happen in a rush as the company wants to get Lavasa into action fully and Nogja expects the project to return to its peak level of activity by October 2012.
Lavasa Corporation is a subsidiary of HCC, which holds a 65% stake in Lavasa. HCC had filed a draft red herring prospects with Sebi for the Lavasa initial public offer in September 2010 and had got the regulator?s nod for an IPO for November/December 2010.
The process was halted when the ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) issued a stop-work order and halted work at the project site. But now armed with the MoEF clearance, the company will be looking at raising funds. The year 2010 plan was to raise about R2,000 crore by selling 10% in Lavasa Corporation. The Avantha Group and the Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group (VH Group) are among the other large shareholders. Nogja said they had so far invested about R4,000 crore in the Lavasa project. About R3,000 crore of this was raised from the market.
Lavasa Corporation’s debt is currently at R2,200 crore, Nogja said. Asked whether it would go in for a debt restructuring programme, Nogja said the company was in discussion with lenders on the viability of the project.
In a bid to boost investor and market confidence in the project, Lavasa Corporation announced the launch of its second town, Mugaon, at the Lavasa Hill City on March 23. This is the first such development after clearance from MoEF. The Mugaon town is to be built across 2,400 acre.