Baazar Style Retail Secures Rs 37 Crore from Volrado Ventures Ahead of IPO

Baazar Style Retail Ltd has raised Rs 37 crore from Volrado Ventures Partners Fund II in a pre-IPO round. This funding reduces the IPO's fresh issue size to Rs 148 crore. The offering includes an Offer-For-Sale component and a reservation for employees. As of December 2023, the company has 153 stores.

Baazar Style Retail Ltd on Monday announced raising Rs 37 crore from venture-capital fund Volrado Ventures Partners Fund II in a pre-IPO round.

This new capital injection reduces the size of the company's IPO fresh issue to Rs 148 crore, down from the initial Rs 185 crore.

The Kolkata-based company's IPO offering includes an Offer-For-Sale (OFS) component of up to 1.68 crore shares, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).

Under the OFS, key promoters, including Rekha Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, will divest shares. Additionally, entities like Intensive Softshare Private Ltd and Intensive Finance Pvt Ltd are set to offload significant equity shares.

A portion of the IPO is reserved for subscription by eligible employees. The private placement involved 9,56,072 equity shares, each priced at Rs 387, resulting in a total of Rs 37 crore.

Baazar Style Retail, a significant player in the value retail market in West Bengal and Odisha, is expanding into states such as Assam, Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh, operating 153 stores as of December 31, 2023.

The company reported a profit of Rs 5.10 crore in the financial year 2023, reversing a net loss of Rs 8.01 crore from the previous year, with annual revenues rising to Rs 787.90 crore.

The IPO's book-running lead managers are Axis Capital, Intensive Fiscal Services, and JM Financial.

(With inputs from agencies.)