Speaking to Mirror Business, Access Group Chairman, Sumal Perera said, the company will be launching the IPO second half this year towards the end of March.
“Still, we have not decided the exact dates. But we are planning to come up with the IPO probably towards the end of May this year after the private placement” Perera added.
However, he refused to disclose on what the proceedings of the IPO will be utilized.
Sri Lanka’s market regulator recently had said that they were expecting around 50 new IPOs in 2011 with at least two IPOs valued at Rs.5 billion. The biggest IPO in the recent history of Colombo bourse was Laugfs Gas which raised Rs.2.5 billion.
The other IPO that is expected to raise around Rs.5 billion is Sri Lanka Catering, which is expected to come into the market this year.
Most of the post-war IPOs that came into the market to raise funds in the recent times ended up being oversubscribed by over 100 times. The nearest examples were IPOs of Singer Finance and Union Bank of Colombo.
Meanwhile, Access Engineering will be the second largest IPO entering Sri Lanka’s Capital Market after Dialog that raised nearly Rs.8 billion and will surpass expected IPOs such as Vallibel One, Softlogic and Expolanka.
Since its inception in 1990, Access Group ventured into the construction sector in 1994 to secure itself a niche market for providing turnkey engineering services for Gabion related structures and has formally established Access Engineering Ltd., in 2001.
With a vast portfolio of completed private sector and government projects, Access Engineering is one of the entities in the forefront of the civil engineering in Sri Lanka. It has a work force of 1400 employees including over 100 engineering professionals, an in-house design office and a modern fleet of specialized machinery and equipment.
Access Engineering is specialized as contractors for Design and Construction of Infrastructure development projects in the fields of Irrigation & Land Drainage, Water Supply, Highways, Bridges and suppliers of Engineering related products such as Gabions, Geotextiles, High Density Polythene liners, Bridge Bearing Pads, Bridge Expansion Joints, DI Pipes and fittings, Construction Chemicals, Water Stops, Metal Arch Underpass and Mechanical Stabilized Earth Wall Structures, Water & Sewerage Treatment Plants.