Samara Capital and Amazon-owned grocery and grocery retail chain More Retail plan to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in the next 12 to 18 months to raise capital to accelerate growth, senior officials said.
The IPO will give Samara Capital an opportunity to dilute its 51 percent stake in More Retail’s holding company, Witzig Advisory Services. Samara Capital owns the interest through the Samara Alternate Investment Fund. The remaining 49% of Witzig is owned by Amazon through two companies – Coda Holdings Singapore and Coda Holdings LLC.
A spokesman for Samara Capital said it is a long-term investment in More Retail and the company is in no rush to increase its stake beyond what is required for dilution at the IPO. He said organizers have yet to decide how much share dilution will be applied at the IPO.
The promoters invested ₹100 crore in Witzig Advisory Services last month, which in turn invested the same amount in More Retail, according to the latest regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
More Retail recently saw four senior executives file their papers — hypermarket business CEO Mohit Kampani, supermarket CEO Sashi Gumma, hypermarket chief operating officer Gurpreet Sandhu and chief supply chain officer Satish Karunakaran. Kampani is serving his notice period.
A spokesman for More Retail said that as with any business, the departures are regular and that the company is also attracting talent. He said More Retail has rapidly expanded its store footprint, having doubled the number of hypermarkets and added 50% more supermarkets in the past three and a half years since it was acquired by Samara Capital.
“Shareholders are committed to the company and will continue to support growth and expansion with capital injections,” he said.
More Retail currently operates 881 supermarkets and 42 hypermarkets. Around 100 new stores, including ten hypermarkets, are to be opened this financial year.
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