Biscuit maker Anmol Industries planning IPO in 2018

Mumbai: Kolkata-based cookies and biscuits maker Anmol Industries Ltd plans to list in 2018 and has started work on an initial public offering (IPO), three people aware of the development said.

“Anmol Industries is eyeing an IPO in the coming year. They have already appointed two domestic investment bankers for working on the IPO prospectus, which they are looking at filing with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) by March next year,” said one of the three people cited above, requesting anonymity as he is not authorized to speak with the media.

According to the second person cited above, the company will raise under Rs1,000 crore through the IPO. He too requested anonymity.

“The exact quantum of the fund-raise is still under discussion, but they will raise less than a thousand crore in the IPO. The IPO will be a mix of primary and secondary share sales. The company is looking at a valuation of around Rs4,000-5,000 crore,” he said.

In an email response to queries on its IPO plan, the company said, “We are constantly evaluating options for raising funds. We are unable to comment on any further details on the IPO at this stage.”

Anmol Industries, led by Baijnath Choudhary, was formed when two business units—Anmol Bakers Ltd, which operated in north India and Anmol Biscuits Ltd, which marketed the brand in eastern India—merged.

With a turnover of over Rs1,200 crore and 2,500 distributors, Anmol Industries currently makes more than 30 variants of biscuits, cakes and cookies at its seven manufacturing units at Dankuni, Chanditala, Bhubaneswar, Hajipur, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Sambalpur, according to the company’s website.

Its products are sold at over 15 lakh outlets across north and east India.

It also exports a range of biscuits to countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean Islands.

Several food and beverage companies have tapped the IPO market in the last three years in order to raise funds, retire debt and allow exits to private equity investors.

These include Indore-based Prataap Snacks Ltd, which sells potato crisps and a variety of savouries under the brand name Yellow Diamond; Varun Beverages Ltd, the world’s second largest PepsiCo Inc. bottler; Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd, the holding company of the Cafe Coffee Day chain of restaurants; and Vadodara-based beverage maker Manpasand Beverages Ltd.

Collectively, these companies have raised over Rs.3,000 crore from the IPO market.

The Indian IPO market has witnessed a strong run in the recent years.

In 2017, 33 companies raised Rs65,923 crore through IPOs, a record for the Indian primary market, according to data from primary market tracker Prime Database.

In 2016, 26 companies had raised Rs26,493.8 crore from the IPO market, data shows.