Teamlease gets Sebi nod for IPO

Mumbai: Hiring firm TeamLease Services Ltd on Monday secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for its initial public offering (IPO). The firm had filed its draft initial public offering (IPO) papers with the capital markets regulator in September.

The company, backed by private equity funds Gaja Capital and ICICI Venture’s India Advantage Fund (IAF), is looking to raise around Rs450-500 crore through the offer.

TeamLease is looking to raise primary capital of Rs150 crore, while the rest of the offer will include sale of shares by both Gaja Capital and IAF.

In 2011, Gaja Capital and IAF invested Rs25 crore and Rs75 crore in the firm, respectively. In 2009, Gaja had invested Rs.50 crore in the firm.

IDFC Securities Ltd, Credit Suisse Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd and ICICI Securities Ltd are managing the offer.

TeamLease’s core business is providing staffing solutions. The majority of its business involves providing employees engaged in sales, logistics and customer service functions.

As on 31 March, the firm had provided employment to approximately 1.12 million people. The firm has almost 1,214 clients and a network of eight offices across India.

TeamLease plans to utilize the IPO proceeds to fund existing and incremental working capital requirements, acquisitions and other strategic initiatives, for the upgradation of IT infrastructure, and for general corporate purposes.

The firm reported revenue of Rs2,021.8 crore in 2014-15 compared with Rs1,539 crore in the previous year. Net profit was Rs30.7 crore compared with Rs17.8 crore in the previous year.

Last week, Sebi had cleared the IPOs of real estate firm Paranjape Schemes (Construction) Ltd and footwear maker SSIPL Retail Ltd.

So far this year, 20 firms have raised almost Rs.12,982 crore by listing on the stock exchanges.