Gateway Distriparks Ltd is looking to list its cold chain unit Snowman Logistics Limited and has filed a red herring prospectus with the Registrar of Companies, Bangalore for an initial public offer of its equity shares, according to a stock market disclosure.
Snowman Logistics, an integrated temperature controlled logistics services provider, had planned to hit capital markets last year but had to postpone the plans due to weak market conditions.
The IPO of Snowman Logistics is expected to provide exit to investors like Norwest Venture Partners (Mauritius), International Finance Corp (IFC), Mitsubishi Corp, Mitsubishi Logistics Corp and Nichirei Logistics Group Inc.
VCCircle was the first to report that Snowman Logistics was planning to file draft red herring prospectus for its IPO.
While Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Logistics Corporation together hold over 14 per cent, IFC owns 12.46 per cent stake and Norwest Venture Partners 13.86 per cent.
Snowman Logistics will offer 25.23 per cent stake by issuing 42 million equity shares in the proposed public offer, which will open on August 26 and close on August 28. The company did not reveal other details. Following the IPO, Gateway Distriparks’ stake holding in Snowman Logistics will reduce to 40.17 per cent from 54.04 per cent currently.
During the quarter ended June 30, 2014, Snowman Logistics reported a net profit of Rs 1.28 crore against a net profit of Rs 3.65 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago due to interest cost and expansion expenses.
Currently, the company has 23 temperature controlled warehouses across 14 locations in India and offers services to a number of industries, catering to the likes of Hindustan Unilever, Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut, Mother Dairy and ITC.
Snowman also operated 370 reefer vehicles for primary and secondary transportation as of 31 March 2014, according to information available on the company’s website.
Last year, Ravi Kannan, director and chief executive at Snowman Logistics, had told VCCircle that Snowman Logistics is open to looking at acquisitions in countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and also foraying into these markets organically.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)