Mid-sized IT firm Nihilent Ltd has refiled its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering (IPO) .
The IPO comprises fresh shares worth Rs 250 crore and nearly 2.13 million shares of promoter group entity Vastu IT Pvt. Ltd and 42 other individual shareholders.
Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors is the sole merchant banker helping the company arrange and manage the share sale.
Nihilent joins a growing list of companies that are majority-owned by international firms in seeking to go public in India.
VCCircle had reported that global brewer Carlsberg could become one of the few MNCs to list their local units in India.
Other foreign firms looking to list their India units include Singapore-based Affle Holdings Pte. Ltd, which provides mobile commerce and marketing solutions for consumers and businesses.
Singaporean infrastructure conglomerate Sembcorp Industries Ltd recently received approval to list its Indian energy unit.
In its previous attempt to go public two years ago, Nihilent was looking to raise Rs 140 crore (about $21 million) through a fresh issue besides an offer for sale that would see its existing Indian promoters selling part of their stake.
Nihilent is 69.16% owned by Hatch Investments (Mauritius) Ltd. Hatch is an investment holding company jointly controlled by NTT-owned firm Dimension Data Protocol BV and South Africa's Adcorp Professional Services Ltd.
Hatch was previously part of Nedbank Africa Investment Ltd, which had originally backed Nihilent with Rs 30 crore in funding.
Of the fresh net proceeds, the company plans to use around Rs 125 crore to fund inorganic growth through strategic acquisitions, Rs 24 crore to replace and upgrade facilities at its corporate office, besides spending capital on shifting its branch office, setting up experience laboratories and general corporate purposes.
The company was incorporated in May 2000. Nihilent's service offerings include enterprise transformation and change management, digital transformation services and enterprise IT solutions.
It caters to clients in sectors including banking, finance and insurance, media and entertainment, mobility and telecommunications, life sciences and healthcare, manufacturing, retail and consumer products.
As of June 2018, it had more than 1,800 employees across offices in India, South Africa, the US, UK, and Australia.
The company draws much of its revenue from South Africa. As part of its global strategy, Nihilent is expanding its operations in other countries such as the US, the UK, Australia, Ireland, and India.
The firm reported consolidated net profit of Rs 47.38 crore in the financial year 2017-18 on revenue (from operations) was Rs 424.18 crore.
Its net profit stood at Rs 27.55 crore in 2016-17 on revenue of Rs 369.57 crore for the same period.