SoftBank-backed Snapdeal plans to file papers for an initial public offer (IPO) by the end of December, according to a report by the Mint. The company plans to raise as much as Rs 2,000 crore through the proposed initial share sale, the report cited two persons aware of the development as saying.
A successful listing will mark a comeback for Snapdeal, which was once a stiff competitor of Amazon and Flipkart. “Work on preparation of the draft prospectus is in full swing. Axis Capital is acting as the lead banker to the IPO,” the Mint report quoted a person aware of the development as saying. The person also said the company planned to seek a valuation of $1.5-2 billion in the share sale.
“The draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) will be submitted before the end of December, with the aim of hitting the market in the first half of the year 2022, preferably in Q1 of the calendar year," according to the Mint report.
A share sale will be mostly a primary issue to raise growth capital. The company’s biggest investor, SoftBank, will also have to bring down its shareholding below 25 percent.
“Other investors including Temasek, BlackRock, and Ebay will not be selling in the IPO," according to the report.
Snapdeal, founded by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in 2010, was a strong contender in the world’s fastest-growing online arena. However, it lost ground to larger rivals Amazon and Flipkart and was on the verge of being acquired by Flipkart, a transaction pushed for by investor SoftBank. In 2017, after a brief boardroom battle, Bahl managed to salvage the company from the potential merger. Unlike Amazon and Flipkart, Snapdeal focuses on less-affluent and less tech-savvy buyers mostly outside the cities.
According to filings with the Registrar of Companies, SoftBank held a 35.67 percent stake in Snapdeal as of March 31, 2020. Founders Bahl and Bansal have a stake of about 19 percent in the company. Apart from this, Alibaba, Ratan Tata, Blackrock, Intel Capital and PremjiInvest also hold stakes in the e-commerce company.
Bloomberg News had reported earlier that Snapdeal initially planned to raise about $400 million through the IPO, buoyed by the success of the startups such as Zomato and Nykaa in the capital markets. In 2021, technology companies have collectively raised over Rs 40,000 crore through public issues.
