Mumbai: Indian family-owned Hinduja Group plans to launch lubricants maker Petromin's initial public offering in Saudi Arabia to raise $800 million to $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) this year, a group official said Wednesday.

Petromin is an equal joint venture between the Dabbagh Group of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Oil International Group, a part of the Hinduja Group.

The group has appointed Saudi British Bank, HSBC's affiliate in the kingdom, for managing the IPO, said Sanjay Hinduja, chairman of Gulf Oil International.

"Soon, we will be finalising the timeline and the exact valuations," he told reporters, adding the group is aiming for a listing in calendar 2010 or latest in the first quarter of 2011.

The Hinduja Group plans to sell 30 per cent of Petromin through the IPO. The lubricants maker owns a third of the downstream oil products business in Saudi Arabia and has $500 million in annual revenue, Hinduja said.

Petromin is looking for acquisitions in the Gulf region to boost its business, he said.

The Gulf Oil International and the Dabbagh Group had bought Petromin a few years ago from Saudi Aramco and Mobil Investments, an affiliate of ExxonMobil.

Hinduja said the group was also planning an IPO in Hong Kong for Gulf Oil Marine, another unit of Gulf Oil International that provides the shipping industry with marine lubricants and a range of technical services.

Gulf Oil is planning to tie-up with a British firm to enter the defence business in India, Hinduja said, without giving details. The Hinduja group also plans to build 10,000 megawatt of thermal power in India over five years, another Hinduja official said.

The Hinduja Group, which has interests in financial and automobile businesses, last month acquired Belgian banking and insurance group KBC's private banking arm KBL European Private Bankers for $1.7 billion.

Power projects

India's Hinduja Group, controlled by billionaire brothers Gopichand and Srichand Hinduja, plans to invest as much as $12 billion (Dh44 billion) in power projects in the world's second-fastest growing economy.

The privately held company plans to develop 10,000 megawatts of power projects in five years, Gopichand, co- chairman of Hinduja, said at a press conference in Mumbai yesterday.

Hinduja and Oil & Natural Gas Corp, India's largest energy explorer, agreed to buy a 40 per cent stake in the 12th project phase of Iran's South Pars natural gas field in December.

Hinduja said due diligence on that investment has been completed and that the company is not looking at other opportunities.

— Bloomberg