Liquor-giant Allied Blenders and Distillers files DRHP for Rs 2000 crore IPO

28 Jun 2022 , 03:31 PM

Indian spirits manufacturer Allied Blenders and Distillers has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO).

The largest Indian-owned Indian-made foreign liquor (“IMFL”) company and the third largest IMFL company in India has planned  to raise Rs2,000 crore via IPO. Moreover, the issue with a face value of Rs 2 per equity share consists of a fresh issue of equity shares worth up to Rs1000 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of Rs1000 crore by Promoter and selling shareholders i.e. Bina Kishore Chhabria up to Rs500 crore, up to Rs250 crore by Resham Chhabria and Jeetendra Hemdev and up to Rs250 crore by Neesha Kishore Chhabria.

The offer also includes a reservation for subscription by eligible employees.

According to the filed DRHP, the Offer is being made through the Book Building Process, wherein not more than 50% of the Offer shall be available for allocation to Qualified Institutional Buyers, not less than 15% of the Offer shall be available for allocation to Non-Institutional Bidders and not less than 35% of the Offer shall be available for allocation to Retail Individual Bidders.

Further, “the company may consider a preferential issue of equity shares or any other method aggregating up to Rs200 crore. If such placement is completed, the fresh issue size will be reduced”, the Mumbai-based distiller said in its offer document.

However, the proceeds from its fresh issuance worth Rs708.98 crore will be utilised for prepayment or scheduled re-payment of a portion of certain outstanding borrowings and balance for general corporate purposes.

The Mumbai-based company is one of the only four spirits companies in India with a Pan-India sales and distribution footprint, and is a leading exporter of IMFL, in terms of annual sales volumes between Fiscal 2019 to Fiscal 2021 with an estimated peak share of 20% in Fiscal 2021. 

The main competitors of the company are United Spirits Limited, Pernod Ricard India Private Limited and Radico Khaitan Limited.

Apart from liquor, ABD also sells packaged drinking water under the Officer’s Choice, Officer’s Choice Blue, and Sterling Reserve brands and has exported its products to 22 countries internationally, including countries in North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.

ICICI Securities Limited, Axis Capital Limited, JM Financial Limited, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited and Equirus Capital Private Limited are the book running lead managers and Link Intime India Private Limited is the registrar to the offer. The equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE.