Megha Engg sees prospects in PSU disinvestments
Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure (MEIL) is betting big on not just government contracts but also buying Union government equity in public sector companies.
The company has been shortlisted as qualified bidder for Shipping Corporation of India, Neelachal Ispat, and BEML. In an interview, P V Krishna Reddy, managing director of the company, said it was looking at opportunities in disinvestment.
“Opportunities are there. Besides, buying Neelachal Ispat will be backward integration. We buy more than 1 million tonnes of steel (for projects),” he added.
The group will also be looking at an initial public offering sometime next year, besides raising debt. “We will raise ~15,000-20,000 crore. Due diligence is being done,” said Reddy.
MEIL was the sole private sector bidder for private trains but the tender for it was on hold since there was not enough interest in it. Besides Megha Engineering, Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation had shown an interest in running private trains in the country. MEIL started as a small fabrication unit in 1989 with fewer than 10 employees but now has 10,000 employees.
It initially had projects across the irrigation and drinking water sectors but later moved to infrastructure and manufacturing capital goods. It now has a footprint in 20 countries.
The company recently handed over an indigenously built oil and gas rig to ONGC as part of a ~6,000-crore tender. It had bagged a contract to supply 47 rigs, comprising 20 workover rigs and 27 land drilling rigs, to ONGC in 2019. The first such rig was handed over in April while the second rig was delivered in August. By March 2022, it is going to deliver 23 rigs to ONGC. MEIL had bought out an Italian company, Drill Mac, in January 2019, for getting expertise into this business. The automated rigs are using advanced hydraulic technology acquired from the takeover of Drill Mac.
It is executing the ~4,600crore Zojila tunnel project for better connectivity between Kashmir and Leh in the Ladakh region.