Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders to launch IPO on 29 Sept, say reports; govt likely to dilute stake in company

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, a state-owned defence company under the Ministry of Defence, will launch its initial public offering (IPO) on 29 September, said reports. As per a Moneycontrol report, the issue will close on 1 October. The report adds that the government company is likely to raise around Rs 400-550 crore via its maiden public offer. As per a report in _The Hindu- BusinessLin_e, the Mazagon Dock IPO was supposed to be launched in September last year, but got shelved due to low demand. A government official had stated back then that all five merchant bankers had unanimously said there is no demand in the market for the shares when it was about to be launched and so they had to defer it. The present decision comes as the government is likely to dilute its 10 -15 percent stake in the company via the public offer, which will help it raise Rs 700- 800 crore. The announcement comes after a slew of companies made public offers. These included Happiest Minds Technologies, Route Mobile, CAMS, Chemcon Speciality Chemicals and Angel Broking. For the financial year ended March 2020, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders reported a revenue of Rs 5,566 crore while its profit stood at Rs 415 crore. Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited’s main activities are construction of warships and submarines with facilities situated at Mumbai and Nhava (under development). They have the capability to build warships, submarines, merchant ships up to 40,000 DWT. As per the Moneycontrol report, this will be the eleventh initial public offering this calendar year. It will also be the first government firm to launch IPO in 2020.