Kerala: Falcon plans to go in for IPO

Kochi, Jul 10: Falcon Infrastructures Ltd, which operates Kerala's first private full-fledged inland Container Freight Station (CFS), has indicated that it will go for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to fund its Rs 200-crore Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) at Kalamassery near here.

Confirming that the IPO was in the offing, Company Managing Director N K Mohammed Kutty told UNI that ''we are in the advanced stage of negotiation for setting up the FTWZ and after getting the approval from authorities concerned, the IPO process will commence.'' He said the IPO would hit the market in one year and the proceeds would be used to fund the project, which would be a public-private partnership venture.

More Free Trade Warehousing Zones and SEZs would be required in the State before the commissioning of the Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal by the end of 2009, he noted.

Mr Kutty said the company had recently started the reefer services -- stuffing and de-stuffing of refrigerated containers meant for perishable cargo like seafood.

This is a significant development for a coastal state like Kerala where the importance of seafood and related products was paramount, he added.

The company claimed to have achieved the record of stuffing 240 tonnes of export cargo of coffee in a single day for shipment to Russia from the Cochin Port.

The cargo, compirising 12 containers, belonged to Harrisons Malayalam Ltd (HML), an RPG group company, a leading player in India's plantation industry.

UNI