Petronet LNG Ltd, which completed construction of India's first LNG import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat, announced on Monday that it will float an initial public offering of 26.10 crore (261 million) shares around February 15, 2004.
"We will file the prospectus of the IPO being done through book building, next week," PLL director (finance) P Dasgupta told PTI.
The company, which has appointed DSP Merril Lynch, SBI Caps, J M Morgan Stanley, ICICI Securities and Enam as merchant bankers for the public issue, will list its shares on Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange to raise about Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion) that would part fund expansion of the 5 million tones-a-year Dahej LNG import and regassification terminal.
Construction on the third LNG storage tank at Dahej will star from the first quarter of 2004.
Petronet's promoters, state-owned refiners Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp, gas transmission utility GAIL India Ltd, and upstream giant Oil and Natural Gas Corp, hold 12.5 per cent stake each in the Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) capital.
Project consultant Gaz de France has taken 10 per cent stake in the company.
Dasgupta said the Dahej terminal was mechanically completed on Monday and the first LNG ship from Qatar will touch Indian shores on January 28. 'Disha', first of the two LNG tankers PLL is chartering for shipping LNG from Qatar, will be delivered on January 10.
"First four LNG cargoes will go in pre-commissioning activities and commercial sales will begin from April 1," he said.
PLL plans to add two more tanks at Dahej to double the Dahej terminal's capacity to 10 million tonnes per year.
While work on Rs 200-crore (Rs 2 billion) third tank will begin in the first quarter of 2004, the company will go ahead with building the fourth tank only if it wins a regasification tender issued by state power producer National Thermal Power Corp, sources said.