SEBI Approves IPOs Of Unicommerce, FirstCry

SUMMARY

SEBI issued its observation letter to Brainbees Solutions Ltd, the parent of FirstCry, on June 25, while Unicommerce was issued the letter on June 28

SoftBank-backed FirstCry is looking to raise INR 1,816 Cr via fresh issue of shares. Its IPO will also comprise an OFS of up to 5.4 Cr equity shares

Unicommerce’s IPO has an OFS component of up to 2.98 Cr shares and will not include any fresh issue of shares

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved the initial public offerings of omnichannel retailer FirstCry and SaaS startup Unciommerce.

As per the latest update on the regulator’s website, SEBI issued its observation letter to Brainbees Solutions Ltd, the parent of FirstCry, on June 25. Meanwhile, Unicommerce was issued the observation letter on June 28.

In SEBI’s parlance, issuing an offer letter is a greenlight to proceed with the offer.

As per the DRHP, SoftBank-backed FirstCry is looking to raise INR 1,816 Cr via a fresh issue of shares. Its IPO will also comprise an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to 5.4 Cr equity shares.

Shareholders, including SoftBank, Premji Invest, TPG Growth and Mahindra & Mahindra, will offload shares under the OFS.

It is pertinent to note that Firstcry first filed its DRHP in December last year. However, it withdrew the IPO papers after SEBI flagged that some of the key indicators were missing. Following this, the kids-focussed retailer refiled its DRHP in April this year.

As per the updated draft papers, FirstCry posted INR 4,814 Cr sales in the first nine months of FY24. Its net loss stood at INR 278.2 Cr during the period.

The startup’s net loss stood at INR 486 Cr in FY23 on an operating revenue of INR 5,632.5 Cr.

On the other hand, Unicommerce’s IPO will not have any issue of fresh shares. It will include only an OFS component of up to 2.98 Cr shares.

SoftBank affiliate SB Investment Holdings (UK) Limited plans to offload up to 1.6 Cr shares, while AceVector (formerly Snapdeal) will offload up to 1.14 Cr shares.

Unicommerce filed its DRHP with SEBI in January this year.

Last month, the startup filed an addendum to the DRHP to classify SoftBank-owned Starfish I Pte Ltd and Snapdeal’s cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Kumar Bansal as its promoters.

On the financials front, Unicommerce posted a profit of INR 6.3 Cr in the first half of FY24 on an operating revenue of INR 51 Cr. In FY23, it reported a net profit of INR 6.4 Cr, up 8% from INR 6 Cr in the previous fiscal year. For the same period, operating revenue rose 52% to INR 90 Cr from INR 59 Cr in FY22.

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