Fabindia hires five bankers to raise USD 1 Bn through IPO

Fabindia, a domestic chain store engaged in the business of apparel, home furnishings, furniture, gifts, jewellery, organic food, and personal care products, has revealed its plans to raise up to USD 1 Bn via IPO.  

This decision comes at a time when benchmark indices are at record highs. The company plans to ride on the buoyant investor sentiments and issue a stake between 25 to 30 per cent (estimated around USD 2 bn). For this purpose, it has appointed ICICI Securities, SBI Capital Markets, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and Nomura as its investment bankers. The draft paper for this issue is expected to be filed with SEBI within the next two months, that is, by November.  

Notable investors in the company include PremjiInvest (private equity fund of Azim Premji), Nandan Nilekani (co-founder of Infosys), his wife Rohini Nilekani, Lighthouse Funds, funds managed by Axis Alternative Asset Management and Kotak Securities. Of these, PremjiInvest will sell a part of its stake during the IPO.

The company’s FY21 performance has not been released yet. As per VCCEdge, the research platform of VCCircle, in FY20, Fabindia overseas’ topline grew by 2.3 per cent YoY to Rs 1,508 crore. However, its bottom line fell to Rs 30 crore from Rs 101 crore in FY19. 

Commenting on this development, the company’s spokesperson said that, the company has “considered various capital-related options from time to time”. 

“We also take advice from our bankers. At the right stage, we will discuss any plans with the board of directors and be guided by their decision. We have nothing further to comment on this subject at this stage,” the spokesperson added.