Mumbai: Pratibha Shipping Company, a closely held company belonging to Sharad Pawar family, has advanced its plans to go public, and the IPO is likely to hit the market within next few months, reports the Economic Times.
The latest development that facilitated the fast-growing shipping company's fortunes is the bagging of the contract of afreightment (CoA) from State Trading Corporation (STC) of Mauritius. This follows the recent FoB (free-on-board) purchase contract signed between STC of Mauritius and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), for the supply of petroleum products worth $2 billion.
In order to fulfil its contractual bligations, Pratibha Shipping is all set to multiply its tonnage dramatically.
"The 3-year COA with STC of Mauritius was signed last fortnight and supply will commence from the second week of August 2007," said Sunil Pawar, managing director of Pratibha Shipping.
Presently the company fleet consists of six tankers (5 products' and 1 crude tanker) of a total tonnage of 230,000 dwt. To meet the additional demand, it is in the process of adding two additional product tankers and two crude tankers each of between 40,000 dwt to 100,000 dwt at a cost of $ 200 million. Its vessel "Pratibha Cauvery" is the first Indian flag ship to get fully converted to double hull. Two more of its vessels will also undergo conversion to double hull at Cosco Shipyard, China, and are expected to be commissioned in four to five months. [06/08/07]
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