Nykaa’s Falguni now richer than Havells, Marico, Eicher and Biocon owners

Falguni Nayar of Nykaa has catapulted into India’s billionaire club following the blockbuster listing of FSN E-Ecommerce Ventures on Wednesday (November 10), which now ranks among India’s top 100 listed companies with a market cap of ₹1,04,360.85 crore (over $14 billion).

With over 52% stake, the Nayar family is now worth $7.38 billion, eclipsing some of India’s well-known and established single business families. The Nayars have overtaken the likes of Anil Rai Gupta (Havells), Vivek Chaand Sehgal (Motherson Sumi), Harsh Mariwala (Marico), Siddhartha Lal (Eicher) and Samir Mehta (Torrent Pharma). The former investment banker-turned entrepreneur has also overtaken Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon and the Reddy sisters of Apollo Hospitals.

In fact, the value of Nayar’s holding (52.56%) is much higher compared to the stakes of Mariwala, Gupta, Sehgal, Mehta and Mazumdar-Shaw, which are in the range of 60-71%. A host of other prominent businessmen, too, have been eclipsed by the Nayars, but their stakes are comparatively lower than the Nayars.

The online cosmetics retailer, which operates under the brand Nykaa, made a strong debut on Wednesday, with its shares listing at ₹2,018, a 79% premium over its issue price of ₹1,125 per share on the National Stock Exchange and at ₹2,001, a 78% premium over the IPO price, on the BSE.

With a ₹1-trillion mark, Nykaa, as of Wednesday, ranks 45th among the top 100 most valuable companies on the BSE, according to data from Capitaline. The ₹5,300-crore public offer had evoked a strong investor interest and was subscribed over 82 times, with high networth investors bidding over 112.5 times and retail investor bidding 12.3 times.

Putting the investor appetite into context, Sneha Poddar, analyst at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, points out that Nykaa is one of the fastest-growing fashion platforms in the country based on gross merchandise value. “Nykaa’s key strengths lie in its inventory led business model for the beauty and personal care (BPC) segment, which allows it to offer authentication for all its products and ensures availability and efficient distribution” points out Poddar. According to the brokerage house, India’s online BPC market is highly underpenetrated at 8%, but has been growing at a very fast pace (60% per annum) over CY16-20. She expects the company to retain investor interest post listing. “Given its 35% market share in the online BPC segment, we believe Nykaa is rightly placed to tap the high growth digital and online penetration in the BPC and fashion market. We like Nykaa given its leadership position, customer-centric approach, profitable tech platform and capital-efficient business model,” feels Poddar.

The consumer technology platform will deploy the proceeds from the issue to improve its brand presence, repay debt, and expand its network of retail stores and warehouses. But the euphoria around the stock has also resulted in expensive valuation, with the stock now trading at 1,647x trailing 12-month price to earnings multiple.