D-Mart parent Avenue Supermarts to launch $280 million IPO on 8 March

Mumbai: India’s Avenue Supermarts Ltd will take subscriptions for its initial public offering (IPO) of up to Rs18.7 billion on 8 to 10 March with the listing likely to take place on 21 March, the supermarket operator said in a filing released on Friday.

The IPO by Avenue Supermarts, which operates 118 stores across 45 cities under the D-Mart brand, comes at a time when share markets are rallying, with the NSE index on Thursday hitting its highest since March 2015.

The IPO would be the country’s biggest since PNB Housing Finance Ltd raised Rs3,000 crore in an initial share sale in October.

Indian companies raised $4 billion IPOs last year, making it the best year in six. Bankers expect fund raising from IPOs to be higher this year with a strong pipeline of initial share sales including top bourse National Stock Exchange’s expected $1 billion listing.

Nine banks led by Kotak Mahindra Capital will manage Avenue Supermart’s IPO. Other bookrunners include Axis Capital, Edelweiss, HDFC Bank and ICICI Securities.