Baazar-style retail may launch IPO by September 2023 and begins talks for investment bankers

West Bengal-based value retail chain Baazar Style Retail Ltd has entered initial talks with investment banks to launch its IPO from July to September 2023, according to a report by Moneycontrol. The company owns the Style Baazar and Express Baazar brands and is backed by the late veteran investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

“Recent pitches for Bazaar Style Retail Ltd’s IPO mandate were held and 3 investment banks should be shortlisted within a month. No final decision has yet been made on the size of the IPO, but as of now the company is attempting to raise more than Rs.700 crore,” the report said, citing an industry source.

The public offering may include primary and secondary issues of shares. And it plans to facilitate partial exits for some investors and also to collect proceeds for growth capital and inorganic activities, another source said, according to the report.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was an investor in the IPO. Other investors in Baazar Style include DK Surana-led Intensive Group, Kewal Kiran Clothing, Rajnish Gupta, family offices and other individuals.

The third source said that the Sebi IPO papers could be filed by December or January, and a launch is planned for July-August 2023.

“We have set a target of opening 175 stores by 2023 and 250 stores by 2025 and we believe the growth will come from 12 states in East and Central India. Although our larger vision is to become one of the largest retailers in the country, we would like to establish ourselves in this part of the country first. We’re taking a cluster-based approach, where we’re digging deep into almost every county in the state so we can achieve better economies of scale and brand exposure,” said Shreyans Surana, CMD of Baazar Style Retail, emailed the report.

IPO of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank

Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB), one of the country’s oldest private sector lenders, is preparing to launch an initial public offering worth up to Rs 832 crore on September 5. This will be the third initial stock sale in three weeks, after a hiatus of almost three months. The IPOs of Syrma SGS Technology and DreamFolks Services received a strong response from investors, winning bids for 32.6 times and 56.7 times the shares on offer, respectively.

It is one of the oldest private banks with a 101-year history, founded in 1921 as Nadar Bank. The bank offers a wide range of services mainly to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, agricultural and private customers. The bank operates 509 branches, 369 of which are in its home state of Tamil Nadu, which handles over 70 percent of its business, and the rest of the branches are spread across 15 states and four union territories.

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