Pratibha expansion leads to pending IPO

Pratibha expansion leads to pending IPO Pratibha Shipping Co., a closely held Indian tanker company, is likely to go public in the next few months, the Economic Times reported this week.
   After securing a contract to transport petroleum products for the State Trading Corp. of Mauritius. STC recently signed a contact with Indian firm Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals for the supply of $2 billion worth of petroleum products.
   To meet the demand that STC will place on family-owned Pratibha, the carrier plans to increase the size of its fleet from six to 10 ships — from five product tankers and one crude tanker to seven products tankers and three crude tankers. To fund the expansion plans, the company, whose revenue has increased 55 percent in the last year to $34.9 million, needs a shot of outside investment.
   Sunil Pawar, Pratibha managing director, told the newspaper that the carrier is considering joint ventures with other firms to drive expansion as well.