IPO watch: These three companies get Sebi nod to launch public offer

The euphoria in India’s initial public offering (IPO) market is far from over as there is a long queue of companies lined up to raise funds by the public listing of shares on the domestic exchanges. In a fresh development, three more companies API Holdings, the parent of online pharmacy PharmEasy, CMR Green Technologies, and Wellness Forever Medicare have received the nod from the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch their public offers.

API Holdings filed draft documents with SEBI in November 2021 to raise ₹6,250 crore via an IPO, while Wellness Forever Medicare, a pharma chain backed by Serum Institute’s Adar Poonawalla, submitted the papers before the regulator in October 2021. CMR Green Technologies, one of the leading players in the domestic aluminium recycling industry, filed papers with SEBI in September 2021.

Apart from these firms, investors are keeping a close eye on the public offer of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, which is touted to be the country’s largest IPO ever. Among others, hotel aggregator OYO, supply chain company Delhivery, hospital chain Medanta, and online travel portal Ixigo are also expected to float their initial share sales in the current quarter.

The rush in the primary market continues even after SEBI decided to tighten the IPO rules to tackle the extreme volatility in stock prices on their listing day. As many as 63 companies garnered a record ₹1.2 lakh crore in the calendar year 2021 through IPOs despite market volatility caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here is all you need to know about these companies before investing in IPOs

Wellness Forever Medicare

The Adar Poonawalla backed pharmacy major had submitted a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI on October 1, 2021, to raise ₹1,500-1,600 crore via IPO. The issue includes a fresh issue of shares worth ₹400 crore and an offer for sale of up to 16,044,709 equity shares.

The Mumbai-based company is one of the largest retail pharmacy and wellness network by number of stores, with a strong presence in western India. The company has a registered customer base of 67 lakh across India and has 236 stores across 23 cities in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa. It was formed in 2008 by pharma industry veterans Ashraf Biran, Gulshan Bakhtiani and Mohan Chavan.

The company intends to use IPO proceeds to set up new outlets, repayment or prepayment of debt and to meet working capital expenses.

API Holdings

PharmEasy’s parent company API Holdings has also received the nod from SEBI to launch its public offer. The IPO will entirely be a fresh issue with only a primary share sale of an unspecified number of shares worth ₹6,250 crore.

The IPO proceeds will be used to repay or prepay borrowings, fund organic growth initiatives and inorganic growth opportunities through acquisitions, and other strategic initiatives. The rest of the proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

The company was founded by five childhood friends — Siddharth Shah, Hardik Dedhia, Harsh Parekh, Dharmil Sheth and Dhaval Shah — commonly referred to as the Ghatkopar Gang, coming from the suburb of Ghatkopar in Mumbai.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited, Morgan Stanley India Company Private Limited, BofA Securities India Limited, Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited and JM Financial Limited are the book running lead managers to the issue.

CMR Green Technologies

The metal recycling company has filed documents with the market regulator to raise funds by issuing fresh equity shares worth ₹300 crore and an offer for sale of 3.34 crore shares by promoters and investors. The IPO will see promoters Gauri Shankar Agarwala, Kalawati Agarwal, Mohan Agarwal and Pratibha Agarwal divesting stake in the company. The IPO capital will be used to pay debt and meet general corporate purposes. ICICI Securities, Axis Capital and JM Financial have been hired as the book running lead managers to the issue.

Established in 2006, CMR Group is one of the leading producers of aluminum and zinc die-casting alloys with a combined annual capacity of over 310,700 metric tonnes. It operates through 12 manufacturing facilities.