POLGAHAWELA, Sri Lanka, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan car maker Micro Cars Ltd aims to take advantage of surging interest in stocks to raise about 300 million rupees ($3.1 million) in an initial public offering next year, its officials said on Friday.
Sri Lankan companies are flocking to the Colombo market , which is trading at nine-year highs after the government and Tamil Tiger rebels agreed to a truce in a 20-year ethnic war last year.
Micro Cars is owned by Transmec Ltd, the agent for Renault in Sri Lanka. It has started assembling an inexpensive 800cc car of its own design, for which it imports the parts, and opened a second assembly plant in Polgahawela, about 60 km (37 miles) north-east of Colombo on Friday.
"We will look at a private placement of shares and an initial public offering next year," said Sabri Wahid, finance director of the firm.
There was little demand for initial public offerings a few years ago when the market was trading at record lows at the height of the war.
Wahid said the company had received orders for about 200 cars and was planning to invest about 600 million rupees over the next few years and hire about 4,000 workers for its assembly plants.
Micro Cars have a fibreglass body and are designed for city driving. (US$1 = 95 rupees)