Kathmandu, August 28 – The founding shareholders of Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Company Limited have completed the payment for their rightful shares, marking a significant step forward for the 456-megawatt Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project. The company’s promoters have revealed plans to issue bonus shares to shareholders, with the distribution set to commence from September 4. Under this scheme, each shareholder will receive one bonus share for every share they currently hold, with a value of Rs. 100 per bonus share.
Before the company’s shares were made available to the public, key founding entities, including Nepal Electricity Authority, Nepal Telecommunications Company Ltd. (Nepal Telecom), Citizen Investment Fund, and National Insurance Corporation, have fulfilled their right share obligations in accordance with their shareholdings. The combined payments from these founders total 5.04 billion rupees.
With a total paid-up capital of 10.59 billion rupees, the share ownership distribution is as follows: the authority holds 41 percent, Nepal Telecom holds 6 percent, and Citizen Investment Fund along with National Insurance Institute each hold 2 percent of founder shares. Consequently, the authority has paid 4.34 billion rupees, Nepal Telecom has contributed 63.54 million rupees, and Citizen Investment Fund and National Insurance Institute have collectively paid 21.18 million rupees for the right shares. Upon the successful completion of these payments, the shares have been appropriately allocated.
Among the company’s common shares, which constitute 49 percent of the total, the distribution is as follows: 17.28 percent are owned by the Employees’ Savings Fund, 2.88 percent by project loan employees, 8.84 percent by company and authority employees, 10 percent by Dolakha residents, and 15 percent by the general public. Notably, the general public is required to contribute a sum of 5.91 billion rupees.
Breaking down the public contributions, the Employees’ Provident Fund will provide 1.82 billion rupees, the general public will contribute 1.58 billion rupees, Dolakha residents will chip in 1.59 billion rupees, employees of companies and authorities will contribute 40.56 million rupees, and employees of project loan institutions will provide 30.49 billion rupees. The aggregate amount for the right shares totals 0.1 million rupees. Upon the successful collection of these rightful share payments, the company’s paid-up capital is set to increase to 21.18 billion rupees.
Mohan Prasad Gautam, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, stated that the funds generated from the right share issue will be allocated towards repaying the interest on the short-term loan procured during the Upper Tamakoshi construction, as well as supporting the development of the 21 MW Rolwaling Khola hydropower project. The company had secured a short-term loan of 6 billion rupees to facilitate the Upper Tamakoshi’s construction.
Gautam further highlighted that any remaining funds, after servicing the early loan interest and leveraging proceeds from Upper Tamakoshi’s electricity sales, will be directed toward the financial management of the Rolwaling Khola project.
In other news, the company convened its fifteenth annual general meeting last Wednesday in Kathmandu. During the meeting, the attendees approved the company’s annual report, balance sheet, profit/loss account, and cash flow statement for the fiscal year 2021/22.
