Rasuwagadi, Sanjen hydropower companies to issue IPO this month

Kathmandu, February 7

Rasuwagadi and Sanjen hydropower companies — both promoted by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) — are set to issue initial public offering (IPO) to the public by the end of this month.

Rasuwagadi Hydropower Company is going to issue 24 per cent of the shares out of 49 per cent allocated for the public from February 23. Depositors of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will get 19.5 per cent of the shares as agreed during the financial closure of the 111-megawatt Rasuwagadi Hydropower Project. Likewise, 3.5 per cent shares have been allocated to the employees of the developer, NEA and its subsidiary Chilime Hydropower Company, and one per cent to the employees of EPF.

Those who are registered as EPF depositors till January 4 this year can apply for 13,342,095 units of IPO

between February 23 and March 14. The face value of the IPO has been fixed at Rs 100 per unit. Similarly, a total of 2,394,735 units of shares have been allocated to the employees of NEA and Chilime Hydropower and 684,210 units of shares for the employees of the EPF. These IPOs will be open from March 19 to 27.

EPF depositors and employees of the developers — NEA and Chilime — can apply for 50 to 500 units per applicant. But the units of shares applied for should be divisible by 10 and employees of EPF can apply for minimum 50 units to maximum 2,500 units of shares. The application will be collected through the centralised ASBA (Applications Supported by Blocked Amount) system.

Rasuwagadi Hydropower Company will issue 10 per cent or 6.84 million units of shares to the locals of Rasuwa and 10.26 million units of shares to the general public following the allotment of the shares issued to the lender and employees of developers, according to the company.

Rasuwagadi Hydropower Company has 50 per cent equity and 50 per cent loan. The promoters have so far settled the payment of 51 per cent of the shares allocated to them worth Rs 3.49 billion. Among the promoter shareholders, Chilime Hydropower Company owns 32.79 per cent, NEA owns 18 per cent, and locals of the project sites own 0.21 per cent, according to the company.

The project being constructed in Gosaikunda Rural Municipality of Rasuwa district is estimated to be completed at a total cost of Rs 13.68 billion. The project that was supposed to be completed in the beginning of 2020 has been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances like earthquakes and trade disruptions, among others, according to the developer. The project has achieved 60 per cent physical progress so far.

Similarly, Sanjen Jalaviduyt Company is also going to issue IPO in a similar manner to Rasuwagadi — 19.5 per cent to depositors of EPF, 3.5 per cent to the staffers of NEA, Chilime and the district development committee and village development committees and one per cent to the employees of EPF. Sanjen will issue 8.76 million units of shares or 24 per cent of the total shares worth Rs 876 million.

The depositors registered at EPF till December 12 last year can apply for Sanjen’s IPO from February 23 to March 14 and the employees of promoter companies, district development committee (DDC) and village development committees (VDCs) can apply for IPO from March 19 to 27, as per the company.

Authorised and issued capital of the company is Rs 3.75 billion and Rs 3.65 billion, respectively, in which promoters Chilime Hydropower Company owns 39.36 per cent, NEA 10.36 per cent and DDC and VDCs of Rasuwa own 1.28 per cent share.

The Sanjen Jalaviduyt Company has been developing 14.8-megawatt Upper Sanjen and 42.4-megawatt Sanjen at a total cost of Rs 2.22 billion and Rs 5.02 billion, respectively.