Ampere-Maker Greaves Electric Files DRHP For INR 1,000 Cr IPO

Kicking its public listing plans into motion, electric vehicle (EV) maker Greaves Electric Mobility (GEML) on Monday (December 23) filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). 

In a filing with the exchanges, parent Greaves Cotton said that the initial public offering (IPO) will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth INR 1,00o Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) component of up to 18.93 Cr shares. 

As part of the OFS, promoter Greaves Cotton will offload 5.1 Cr shares while Abdul Latif Jameel Green Mobility Solutions will sell 13.83 Cr shares. The stock will be listed on both the BSE and the NSE. 

Greaves Electric sells electric scooters under the brand name “Ampere”. It also manufactures three-wheelers under different brands. It completed the acquisition of the then Ampere Vehicles by acquiring the entire shareholding of founder Hemalatha Annamalai through a secondary purchase in 2019. 

Meanwhile, an NDTV Profit report claimed that the total size of Greave Electric Mobility’s IPO will be around INR 1,000 Cr. Of this, the company reportedly plans to utilise INR 375.27 Cr to invest in product and technology development, and to enhance the tech capabilities at its Bengaluru technology centre. 

In addition, the EV maker will set aside INR 82.9 Cr to develop an in-house battery assembly capabilities while another INR 27.8 Cr will be allocated for advancing the company’s digitisation efforts and deploying IT infrastructure.

GEML also plans to earmark INR 73.67 Cr to increase its stake in its subsidiary and EV marker MLR Auto. Meanwhile, INR 19.89 Cr and INR 38.26 Cr has also been set aside for expanding the manufacturing capacity of its subsidiaries Bestway Agencies (e-rickshaw maker under ELLE brand) and MLR Auto, respectively. 

A chunk of the fresh proceeds from the IPO will be deployed towards funding inorganic growth through strategic acquisitions and for general corporate purposes. 

Ahead of the public issue, Greaves Electric Mobility is also reportedly mulling raising a pre-IPO placement of up to INR 200 Cr. As per the report, the EV maker might reduce the size of the fresh issue if a pre-IPO placement is undertaken. 

Greaves Electric reportedly clocked a loss of INR 691.57 Cr in the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) as against INR 20 Cr in the year ago period. Meanwhile, revenue from operations withered to INR 611.81 Cr compared to INR 1,121.57 Cr in FY23. 

Meanwhile, the startup reported an operating revenue of INR 302.23 Cr in the first half (H1) of FY25 on a net loss of INR 106.15 Cr. 

Greaves Electric’s plans to list on the bourses comes at a time when the company has been wading through choppy waters for the past couple of years. In 2022, the Ministry of Heavy Industries found the EV maker guilty of flouting localisation mandates under the contentious Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME)-II scheme. 

Subsequently, the government issued a recovery notice totalling INR 125 Cr to the EV maker. The Ampere maker eventually paid the amount last year.