Aditya Birla Retail mulls IPO

Aditya Birla Retail, the country's second-biggest supermarket operator, is considering an initial public offer (IPO) and will time it as soon as the company starts spinning profits.

"We will definitely be open to an IPO, but it will be closer to the time of profitabillity... around 2012 or maybe even before that when we sight profitability," Aditya Birla Retail (ABRL) CEO Thomas Varghese said in Mumbai.

He said that the company had still not determined the amount of equity it would dilute.

"We want to get the maximum value for the equity that we have and that we will get only when we are able to show profitability and demonstrate long-term growth potential," Varghese said.

The company, which operates over 650 supermarkets and three hypermarkets across the country, is also open to bringing financial investors on board.

"We are not opposed to diluting our stake marginally to give it to a private equity player as long as his background profile meets our own aspirations. We want a passive financial investor," he said.

Varghese has charted out an ambitious growth plan for the company over the next 5-6 years and plans to make Aditya Birla Retail a $2-billion entity by 2015-16.