From Biba, Boat and FirstCry to Gopal Snacks and Stanley Lifestyles, here’s a list of retail companies that are likely to go public this year
As many as 102 Initial Public Offers (IPO) hit the stock exchanges last year with a fair participation by companies from the retail ecosystem. One can expect a good number of IPOs to be launched this year as well, going by the number of draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and media reports.
Some of the stalled IPOs by well-known companies like Swiggy and Boat might materialise this year going by the buzz about them in the media.
Here we list IPOs from the retail ecosystem that might be launched in 2024 in alphabetical order.
Biba
Women’s ethnic wear Biba founded by Meera Bindra in 1988 is one of the companies that might go public this year according to a Bajaj Broking blog post. The company that operates Biba across over 500 touchpoints filed its DRHP with Sebi in April 2022. “However, the market regulator has ordered the company to put this plan on hold,” Bajaj Broking wrote in a separate post about the company’s IPO plans.
In its DRHP, the company has offered equity shares worth Rs. 900 million via a fresh issue. It has also proposed a sale of 2,77,62,010 equity shares.
Boat
New Delhi-based audibles and wearables brand Boat too is reconsidering an IPO in 2024 as well as per an Economic Times report.
Boat had put its Rs2000 crore IPO plans on hold in 2022 due to unfavourable market conditions.
Firstcry
Brainbees Solutions the parent of omnichannel kidswear retailer FirstCry filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) on 29 December 2023 as per Sebi Wesbite. The company plans to raise Rs1,816 crore by issuing fresh shares and selling more than 54 million shares by existing investors. These include Ratan Tata, Premji Invest, SoftBank Vision Fund, TPG Growth and Mahindra Retail.
The funds raised through the IPO will be used for international expansion and opening new stores and warehouses.
Gopal Snacks Ltd.
The Gujarat-based company filed its draft offer documents with Sebi on 24 November 2023. The FMCG company that retails wafers, instant noodles, namkeen, papad and other snacking items under brand names Gopal Namkeen, Cornigo, Shot Go, Crictoc and Bonova aims to raise Rs650 crore through the IPO. The issue does not entail a fresh share component but is a sale of shares by existing promoters Bipinbhai Vithalbhai Hadvani and Gopal Agriproducts and investor Harsh Sureshkumar Shah.
The company plans to strengthen its manufacturing and marketing capabilities.
PhonePe
Digital payments player PhonePe might file for an IPO in 2024-2025, its co-founder Sameer Nigam told CNBC-TV18.
In December 2022, PhonePe separated from Flipkart Group and shifted its headquarters from Singapore to India. The company is performing well in India, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told ET in a May 2023 interview.
The payments startup was founded in December 2015 by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer and acquired by Flipkart in 2016.
Walmart acquired PhonePe when it bought Flipkart in 2018.
Stanley Lifestyles
The Bengaluru-based furniture company filed its DRHP for an IPO in September last year.
The IPO will have a fresh issue component worth Rs 200 crore, and an offer for sale of 9.13 million shares by promoters (Sunil Suresh and Shubha Sunil) and investors (Oman India Joint Investment Fund II, Kiran Bhanu Vuppalapati and Sridevi Venkata Vuppalapati).
Stanley intends to use the proceeds from the issue for opening new stores (Rs90.13 crore), opening anchor stores (Rs 39.99 crore), renovating existing stores (Rs10.04crore), capital expenditures including purchasing new machinery and equipment by its subsidiary SOSL and other general corporate purposes.
Swiggy
Like its competitor Zomato, the Bengaluru Food delivery platform too is planning to go the IPO route. The much talked-about $1billion IPO will likely happen in 2024 as per media reports.
In March 2023, Swiggy’s food delivery business turned profitable, making it one of the few in the segment to achieve the feat in less than a decade.
Founded in 2014 by Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy and Rahul Jaimini, Swiggy operates in more than 500 cities.
Unicommerce eSolutions Ltd.
The e-commerce enablement software as a service (SaaS) platform company filed its DRHP with Sebi on 8 Jan 2024. The company intends to offload up to 2,98,40,486 shares by promotor AceVector Limited (formerly known as Snapdeal Ltd.), and investors B2 Capital Partners and SB Investment Holdings Ltd.
