Right Share of Ridi Hydropower in the Offing

May 15: Ridi Hydropower Development Company is issuing 35 percent (1.15 million units) right shares. The company is issuing right shares in order to invest in 9.9MW IwaKhola Hydropower Project that is targeted to operate commercially from 2018 July. However, the issuance will fetch only Rs 110 million in the total of Rs 1.60 billion project. The project is being constructed from 65 percent loan and 35 percent share investment. Among the share investment, the company is still short of Rs 420 million.

In that respect, the company is assessing investment options such as increase promoters’ investment or re-floating IPO in future for the Rairang Project or IwaKhola Project. Currently, Rairang, a subsidiary company of Ridi Hydropower, has already invested Rs 850 million in the project. The electricity generated from the project has been price Rs 8.4 per unit in dry season and Rs 4.8 in rainy season. As per the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), the rate will increased by 3 percent annually for five years. The project has aimed to connect and sell electricity from Kabeli sub-station in which transmission line in some parts are still under- construction.

The group of companies under Ridi Hydropower has total electricity capacity of 14.4MW. The company has collected Rs 574.7 million from selling electricity and has earned Rs 457.2 million net profit till July 2015. The company has distributed dividends averaging 10 percent to its investors. According to the statistics of July 2015, the company owes Rs 124 million for consortium banks’ finance.