JSW Infrastructure files DRHP with SEBI to raise up to ₹2,800 cr via IPO

JSW Infrastructure, the port arm of Sajjan Jindal-led O.P. Jindal Group, on May 9 filed an offer document with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise up to ₹2,800 crore through initial public offering (IPO) route. The port operator will be the third company of the JSW Group to be listed on the domestic bourses after JSW Energy and JSW Steel. The public offer comes 13 years after the listing of JSW Energy in January 2010.

As per the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) filed with SEBI, the IPO is completely a fresh issue of equity shares and there is no offer-for-sale (OFS) component, which means promoters will not be offloading their stake in the company. The company, however, did not reveal the price band for the issue.

JSW Infrastructure, the second largest commercial port operator in the country in terms of cargo handling capacity in fiscal 2022, intends to use IPO proceeds to retire its debt as well as to fund its capacity expansion projects. As of December 31, 2022, JSW Infrastructure had a net debt of ₹2,875 crore.

JM Financial Limited, Axis Capital Limited, Credit Suisse Securities (India) Private Limited, DAM Capital Advisors Limited, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private Limited, ICICI Securities Limited, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited, and SBI Capital Markets Limited are the book running lead managers.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2022, the company posted profit after tax (PAT) of ₹330.44 crore as compared to ₹284.62 crore in FY21 and ₹196.53 crore in FY20. The total income stood at ₹2,378.74 in FY22 versus ₹1,678.26 crore and ₹1,237.36 crore in FY21 and FY20, respectively.  

As per CRISIL Report, JSW Infrastructure is the fastest  growing  port-related  infrastructure  company  in  India  in  terms  of growth  in installed  cargo handling  capacity  and  cargo  volumes  handled  during  fiscal  2020 to  fiscal  2022,  and the second  largest commercial port operator in India in terms of cargo handling capacity in fiscal 2022. The company operates nine port concessions across India with an installed cargo handling capacity of 153.43 MTPA as of December 31, 2022, while it operates two port terminals under O&M agreements for a cargo handling capability of 41 MTPA in the UAE as of December 31, 2022.

As per CRISIL MI&A estimates, port traffic is expected to grow by 8-9% in the fiscal 2023, after growing by 4.9% in the previous fiscal. Going ahead, growth at Indian ports is expected to be at 3-6% between FY24-28. However, factors such as tapering growth in coal due to import substitution along with plateauing of iron ore exports and muted growth in port of loading (POL) segment led by slower consumption in crude oil are expected to moderate cargo traffic over the long term.