BLS E-Services, India Shelter Finance file DRHP with SEBI for IPO

The momentum in the initial public offerings (IPO) market in India continues to remain strong, with more firms taking this route to raise capital. In a fresh development in the primary market, two companies from the national capital region (NCR) filed their Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Friday. These two companies are Delhi-based BLS E-Services and Gurugram-headquartered India Shelter Finance Corporation, which have proposed to list their shares on domestic stock exchanges, BSE and NSE.

Affordable housing finance company India Shelter Finance plans to raise ₹1,800 crore through the IPO, which comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth ₹1,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of ₹800 crore by existing shareholders, as per the preliminary document filed with the SEBI on Friday.

Under OFS, Catalyst Trusteeship Ltd, Madison India Opportunities IV, MIO Starrock, Nexus Ventures III Ltd, and Nexus Opportunity Fund II Ltd will offload their stake in the housing finance company.

Backed by Westbridge Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, India Shelter Finance plans to use funds raised by issuing equity capital to meet future capital requirements towards onward lending and for general corporate purposes.

ICICI Securities, Citigroup Global Markets India, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, and Ambit have been appointed as the book-running lead managers to the IPO.

Meanwhile, BLS E-Services, a subsidiary of visa and immigration services firm BLS International, has not disclosed the IPO size. The public offer is a completely fresh issue of 2.41 crore equity shares.

According to the offer document, the IPO proceeds will be utilised to strengthen technology infrastructure to develop new capabilities and consolidate existing platforms. A part of the capital will also be used to fund organic growth initiatives by setting up BLS Stores, achieving inorganic growth through acquisitions, and general corporate purposes.

Unistone Capital is the sole book-running lead manager to the issue.

BLS E-Services Ltd is a web-enabled services portal, providing business correspondent services to major banks in India, assisted e-services; and e-governance services at grass root levels in India. The company provides access points for the delivery of various services such as bill payments (electricity, water, gas, telephone, etc.), money transfer, travel booking (including IRCTC), Aadhaar payments (AEPS), mini ATM, assisted e-commerce, passport & visa applications, insurance (bike, car, commercial vehicle, health, travel & life), PAN card service, recharges (telecom, DTH, fastag, data card), and many more.

Last week, Concord Biotech and other two from the SME (small and medium enterprise) companies launched their IPOs to collectively raise around ₹1,600 crore. All three IPOs will close today. So far this year, domestic bourses, BSE and NSE, have seen 14 listings.

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