KARACHI, June 17: Lalpir Power formerly known as AES Lalphir (Pvt) Limited is set to go public as the first company to be listed at the stock exchanges after at gap of about a year since the last initial public offering (IPO) was floated.

In 2012 no more than three new companies sought listing at the stock exchanges.

The sponsors of the company (Nishat group being the largest shareholder) would offer 10 per cent of total paid up capital or 37.98 million shares for sale (through book-building and traditional methods).

Analyst Asad I Siddiqui at Topline Securities stated in a note that at the base price of Rs15 per share the total offer size would translate to Rs569.7m, which was bigger than the last 5 year average IPO size of around Rs390m.

The incoming government's focus on resolving the energy crisis has brought independent power producers (IPPs) in sharp focus.

The power companies have gained 16pc in share values, post-election, which makes it the best time to float an IPO.

The book-building process would be carried out on June 18-19.

The IPO would be floated within 30 days from the last day of book building. On the completion of the process, Lalpir Power would become the eleventh IPP to be listed at KSE.

The company intends to offer 75pc shares of the total offer (28.49m) shares) in book-building at floor price of Rs15, while remaining 25pc (9.49m shares) would be offered to the general public at or below the strike price determined through book-building.

Green shoe option of 5pc of total paid up capital or 18.99m shares would also be offered to the general public in case of over subscription.

Lalpir power started commercial operations in 1997 with 30 years of useful life. The company has net generation capacity of 350MW. It is a furnace oil (FO) based plant. In 2010, a consortium led by Nishat group acquired the company at Rs14.9 per share.

Focusing towards efficient electricity production, Lalpir power plans to replace its steam turbine rotors, a move which is expected to improve the plant’s efficiency by 2pc.

The replacement is envisaged to be completed before August, 2014.