Cochin Shipyard shares list at Rs 435 on BSE, zooms 21% to hit Rs 522 on bullish outlook

Shares of Cochin Shipyard listed at nearly 2 percent premium over the issue price of Rs 432 in its debut trade on Friday.

The stock debuted at Rs 435, up 0.69 percent from its issue price on the BSE.

On NSE, shares of the company listed at Rs 440.15, a gain of 1.88 percent from the issue price.

However, the stock later zoomed 20.8 percent to hit Rs 522 on the BSE. At 11:44 am, the stock was at Rs 517, up nearly 19 percent from the issue price.

The bullish outlook for the stock was evident as its IPO was termed a hit among the investors. The IPO was oversubscribed 76.19 times during the 1-3 August offer period.

The price band for the Rs 1,468 crore IPO was Rs 424-432.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said the investor confidence shows the faith in the Narendra Modi government’s economic policies.

The shipyard, whose almost the entire revenue of Rs 2,059 crore last year came from government, should diversify and cater to the private sector too, Gadkari said.

“Don’t depend on only government orders. Now you have to go for cruise, catamaran, hovercraft and my ambition is sea-planes, go for it,” he said.

Cochin Shipyard is currently building India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant.

Gadkari said looking at the opportunity in the inland waterways sector, the shipyard has also partnered with a state-run yard in Hoogly near Kolkata to build and maintain smaller vessels.

SBI Capital Markets, Edelweiss Financial Services and JM Financial Institutional Securities were the book running lead managers to the issue.

In July, ahead of the IPO, chairman and managing director Madhu S Nair said the public sector shipyard will invest Rs 3,100 crore over the next five years for capacity expansion in both ship building as well as repairs side.

“We are investing Rs 1,800 crore for a dry-dock, Rs 970 crore on the ship repair side and Rs 300 crore to augment the current capacities over the next five years,” Nair had said.

The company will enhancing its shipbuilding capabilities by creating a 310-meter dock which can accommodate bigger vessels, including LNG carriers that would be required by the nation in future, Nair said.

The yard, which is building the country’s maiden indigenous aircraft carrier at present, already has two docks of 250 meters and 270 meters.

The state-run firm plans to create an international ship repair facility within the yard, for which it has already leased a 42-acre plot from the Cochin Port Trust, Nair had said, adding it will increase its capacity by over 60 per cent.