Avenue Supermarts Ltd, which runs hypermarkets under the D-Mart brand, is seeking a valuation of as much as Rs 18,660 crore ($2.8 billion) in an initial public offering that begins next week.
At this targeted valuation, the company would surpass the combined $2.5 billion market capitalisation of four of its well-known peers—Shoppers Stop Ltd, V-Mart Retail Ltd, V2 Retail Ltd and Future Retail Ltd.
Avenue Supermarts has set a price band of Rs 295-299 a share for the IPO, it said in a public notice on Wednesday.
Two grey market dealers told VCCircle that shares of the company were quoting around Rs 480-490 apiece, a premium of 60% over its issue price. The shares were quoting around Rs 450 apiece last week.
The grey market is an over-the-counter market where shares are traded before they are listed on a stock exchange.
The public offering will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 1,870 crore ($280 million). The company will use almost 20% of the net proceeds to repay debt and a part of it to open new stores.
The company will sell about 62 million shares, which will see a dilution of an about 10% stake.
The IPO begins on 8 March and closes on 11 March. The anchor book will open on 7 March. Anchor investors are institutional investors who accept a one-month lock-in period for a sizeable allocation of shares and support a public offering.
D-Mart is the first multi-line retail company to float an IPO in almost a decade. The last one to go public was V2 Retail (Vishal Retail) in 2007. A successful listing of D-Mart could open the window for other peers to test the public market.
VCCircle had first reported in September 2016 that D-Mart selected Kotak Mahindra Capital Co Ltd as the lead banker for the IPO.
For more details on the IPO, click here.
Like this report? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our top reports.
