Govt-owned WAPCOS scraps IPO plans

Public sector firm WAPCOS Ltd has decided to shelve its plan for an Initial Public Offering (IPO), through which the government was looking to divest shares. The maiden public issue was slated to be a complete Offer For Sale (OFS) of up to 32,500,000 equity shares by the promoter, Government of India.

The company had filed its preliminary papers for the proposed IPO on September 26, 2022 with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). However, the issue was withdrawn on September 21, 2023, an update with the markets regulator showed on Tuesday.

The reasons for the withdrawal were not disclosed. WAPCOS provides consultancy, and engineering, procurement and construction services in the field of water, power and infrastructure sectors. It comes under the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Also, the company provides its services abroad, particularly in South Asia and across Africa in the fields of dam and reservoir engineering, irrigation and flood control.

The company's revenue from operations increased 11.35 per cent to Rs 2,798 crore in FY22 while profit after tax rose 14.47 per cent to Rs 69.16 crore during the same period. Some of the listed peers in the segment are Ircon International, Rites, Engineers India, National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), and Va Tech Wabag. For the current fiscal, the government has set a disinvestment target of Rs 51,000 crore.