UTKHPL opening IPO for general public from mid-July

KATHMANDU, March 18:

Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project Ltd (UTKHPL) is planning to issue its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to general public by the end of the current fiscal year 2014/15.

According to officials Citizens Investment Trust (CIT) -- the issue manager for the IPO, the hydropower company will open application for the country's biggest IPO to general public by mid-July if the process goes as planned.

CIT is accepting applications for IPO from depositors of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and staff members of the lending institutions, including EPF, in the first phase. "In the second phase, we will launch IPO for locals of project hit district. It will begin on March 22 and continue till March 31," the official said, adding, "Then we will start the process to open IPO for general public."

The company is issuing 15.89 million units, or 15 percent of shares, to general public.

In the first phase, the company is accepting applications from depositors of EPF, staff members of lending institutions -- EPF, Nepal Telecom (NT), Rastriya Beema Sansthan (RBS), CIT and EPF, and staff members of its main promoter Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and UTKHPL.

The allocation of primary shares, however, has fallen into controversy as project-affected locals are complaining about 'unfairly' high allocation of shares to staff members of lending institutions. Meanwhile, workers of the UTKHPL have also been halting construction works at the project site in Dolakha, demanding shares allocation for them as well.

Work on the 456-megawatt capacity project has come to a grinding halt as all 850 workers are on strike. The agitating workers have not even allowed workers of Sino Hydro Company, the contractor of the project, and other technicians to enter the project site. The workers have been demanding that they be given at least 500 shares each.

"If there is no obstruction from any sides, we will issue the shares to the general public within three months," the official added.


IPO for depositors, staffs oversubscribed by three times
The initial public offering (IPO) of Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project Ltd (UTKHPL) for locals, and depositors and staff of lenders, including Employment Provident Fund (EPF), has already been oversubscribed by three times even though the deadline is still two weeks away.

The application for locals will open from March 22 and continue till March 30.

According to officials of the UTKHPL's issue manager Citizens Investment Trust (CIT), they have already collected Rs 9 billion as of Sunday afternoon. UTKHPL has allocated shares worth Rs 3.6 billion to locals and depositors and staffs of lenders as well as its main promoter Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) as well as its staff members.

The 456-megawatt hydropower company has allocated 10.59 million units of shares to the locals of Dolakha, 18,299,520 units to the depositors of the EPF (as of July 30, 2010) and 3,049,920 units to the staff of lending institutions and 4,066,560 units to the staff of UTKHPL and its largest promoter NEA.

Sushil Kumar Aryal, chief manager of CIT, said that they have collected Rs 8.3 billion from 73,000 applications from EPF depositors alone. Similarly, Rs 700 million has been collected from 12,000 applications from staff members of EPF, NT and RBS.

Staff members of CIT and locals are yet to file application for the shares.

Source: Republica