Baazar Style Retail Raises Rs 250 Crore from Anchor Investors Ahead of IPO

Baazar Style Retail Ltd has secured Rs 250 crore from anchor investors ahead of its IPO, which opens for public subscription on August 30. The company has allocated 64.29 lakh shares to 28 funds and aims to raise Rs 835 crore through a mix of fresh issue and offer for sale.

Value fashion retailer Baazar Style Retail Ltd announced on Thursday that it has raised Rs 250 crore from anchor investors, just one day before its public IPO subscription opens. Among the anchor investors are Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust Plc, Volrado Venture Partners Fund IV Gamma, HSBC Global Investment Funds, Allianz Global Investors Fund, Al Mehwar Commercial Investments LLC, HDFC Mutual Fund, HSBC Mutual Fund, Bandhan Mutual Fund, and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company, as per a circular on the BSE website.

According to the disclosed data, the company has allotted 64.29 lakh equity shares to 28 investment funds at Rs 389 each, bringing the total transaction amount to Rs 250.1 crore. The Rs 835-crore initial public offering (IPO) is set to open from August 30 and will conclude on September 3. The price band is fixed between Rs 370-389 per share. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of Rs 148 crore in equity shares and an offer for sale (OFS) up to 1.76 crore shares worth Rs 687 crore at the upper price band, by promoter group entities and other shareholders. The total issue size reaches Rs 835 crore at the upper price band of Rs 389.

Under the OFS, stakeholders including Rekha Jhunjhunwala, Intensive Softshare Pvt Ltd, and Intensive Finance Pvt Ltd will divest their shares. Proceeds from the fresh issue, amounting to Rs 146 crore, will be utilized for debt repayment while the rest will serve general corporate purposes. Earlier in the month, the Kolkata-based retailer raised Rs 37 crore from Volrado Ventures Partners Fund II through a pre-IPO placement, reducing the fresh issue size accordingly. Baazar Style Retail is a leading player in the value retail market in West Bengal and Odisha, with significant presence in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. Investors can bid for a minimum of 38 shares per lot, with additional shares in multiples of 38. Baazar Style Retail reported a consolidated revenue of Rs 972.88 crore in FY24 with a profit after tax of Rs 21.94 crore. Axis Capital, Intensive Fiscal Services, and JM Financial have been appointed as the book-running lead managers for the issue.