Portfolio of 19 projects, 8 are commissioned: IL&FS Transp

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Q: Can you give us a little bit more clarity on the operations of Elsamex, the company that you acquired in 2008? What kind of projections you can make there?

A: We acquired Elsamex in 2008. It is a company which does maintenance and is focused only on maintenance unlike what we do as sponsors and project management. We believe that we need to strengthen our maintenance capabilities and that was one of the reasons why we acquired Elsamex to get technology and man power, which could extend our asset valuations in doing good maintenance jobs.

Elsamex being a Spanish company has had a difficult time. When we acquired it, they had about 6 million euros of PAT and 120 million euros of topline. They closed in December at about 100 million euros of topline and the PAT is almost close to zero. We believe that we have been able to control cost to a very large extent in Elsamex. We have also put in our own management and we are also bringing them into India and giving them new business opportunities. I think they will actually diversify largely from being a European player into a fair share in the markets which are developing particularly in India and other countries.

Q: I believe you are also looking at bidding for international airport projects in association with Airport Authority of India (AAI), how much ground has been covered over there?

A: This is a MoU that we signed with AAI and this is live. We have tried to bid for one project which was in Philippines. The MoU allows us to use the expertise of AAI to go outside India and bid for projects but we haven't made much progress on that sector so far outside of India.

Q: It is very early yet but your issue has opened today, are you getting in any preliminary numbers by way of subscription interest?

A: The anchor closed yesterday at Rs 258 and it was fully subscribed. We have a fair demand on that. I think it was about 7-8 times when we sought interest. So I think we should be doing well in this with a lot of interest coming in.

Q: Who were the top three anchors?

A: It is Reliance Mutual, Ward Ferry and Bay Capital.