More Retail Prepares for ₹2000 Crore IPO, Aims 3000 Stores by 2030 The report said that the listing will be mostly through a fresh capital infusion and most likely no offer for sale (OFS) component, as the Amazon-Samara's investment entity based in Singapore is unlikely to offload its shares as part of the IPO.
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More Retail, owned by the Amazon-Samara Capital partnership, is reportedly planning an INR 2,000 crore initial public offering (IPO) in the upcoming 12-18 months, with a dilution of approximately 10 per cent of its equity, said Vinod Nambiar, More Retail's managing director Vinod Nambiar, according to the Economic Times.
The report said that the listing will be mostly through a fresh capital infusion and most likely no offer for sale (OFS) component, as the Amazon-Samara's investment entity based in Singapore is unlikely to offload its shares as part of the IPO.
Amazon and Samara currently hold 51 percent and 48 percent of More Retail, respectively, with the remaining 1 percent held by high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) and various family offices.
Initially, More Retail was a part of Aditya Birla Group, and then sold to its investors Samara Capital and Amazon, in 2019 for INR 4,300 crore. Since the purchase, the promoters have brought in INR 900 crore in capital, which was mainly used towards reducing its debt, according to Nambiar.
According to the report, the company's remaining debt is part term loan and part non-commercial borrowings. Nambiar also told ET that the current business model is not capital hungry, as opening a More Retail store only costs INR 30 lakh because of the company's leasing model with all its real estate.
Nambiar also said that the company will use the fresh capital through IPO to bolster its business operations and reduce some of its INR 500 crore debt. More Retail is also planning to expand its physical store presence to 3,000 by 2030. Currently, the company operates more than 800 stores across the country.
More Retail enjoys a strong presence in South India, Haryana, NCR, Punjab, and West Bengal, while actively expanding to the eastern front through Jharkhand and Odisha this financial year. The retail chain has also exited saturated areas such as Mumbai.
