Officer's Choice Whisky maker Allied Blenders and Distillers filed its draft red herring prospectus with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch a ₹2,0000-crore initial public offering (IPO).
The issue will consist of a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹1,000 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of ₹1,000 crore by the promoter and existing shareholders.
In the OFS, promoter Bina Kishore Chhabria is expected to offload shares worth up to ₹500 crore, while Resham Chhabria, Jeetendra Hemdev and Neesha Kishore Chhabria will also sell shares worth ₹250 crore each.
The proceeds from its fresh issuance worth ₹708.98 crore will be utilized for prepayment or scheduled re-payment of a portion of certain outstanding borrowings and balance for general corporate purposes, the company said in its DRHP. It may also consider a preferential issue of equity shares or another method aggregating up to ₹200 crore, however, if that happens, the fresh issue size will be reduced..
The company is one of the only four alcohol companies in India. The other 3 are United Spirits Limited, Pernod Ricard India Private Limited and Radico Khaitan Limited. As of March 31, 2022, the company has comprised 10 major brands of IMFL across whisky, brandy, rum, and vodka under its portfolio. The firm was incorporated in 1988 with the launch of its flagship brand, Officer’s Choice Whisky.
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 while Link Intime India Private Limited is the registrar to the offer.
As per the DRHP, not more than 50 percent of the offer shall be available for allocation to qualified institutional buyers, not less than 15 percent of the offer shall be available for allocation to non-institutional bidders and not less than 35 percent of the offer shall be available for allocation to retail individual bidders.
For FY21, the firm's revenue from operations stood at ₹6,378.78 crore and profit after tax at ₹2.51 crore. Meanwhile, For nine-month ending December 2021, revenue from operations stood at ₹5,444.98 crore and profit after tax at ₹3.30 crore.
