NHPC IPO on floor on August 7: Finance ministry

The finance ministry has said that the much-awaited Initial Public Offer (IPO) of state-run power giant NHPC will fetch as much as Rs 1,680 crore. The IPO is expected to hit the market on August 7. The government has decided that NHPC would infuse 10% fresh equity through this public offer and the government would divest its 5% stake in the company.

It is expected that NHPC is to come up with 168 crore shares of face value of Rs 10 each, to be offered at a premium through book building process.

SEBI listing norms require independent directors to form 50% of the board which is to be headed by executive chairman. To adhere to the criteria, NHPC needs to have seven independent directors on board before it can go public.

The company has already filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on August 6, 2008. It had also filed a DRHP in April 207, which was rejected on grounds of insufficient strength of non-official directors on board.

NHPC is also mulling investment of Rs 28,000 crore by 2012 to set itself as over 10,000 MW utility power producer, as against current capacity of 5,200 MW.