Specialty chemical firm Aether plans to file up to Rs 1k-cr IPO next week

Aether Industries caters to the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, material science, electronic chemical, high performance photography and oil and gas industry segments

Specialty chemical company Aether Industries plans to file preliminary documents for an initial public offering of as much as Rs 1,000 crore next week, according to people familiar with the matter.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd have been appointed as merchant bankers to advise the company on the public issue, they added.

Aether Industries started with an R&D unit in 2013, and began commercial production in 2017. It caters to the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, material science, electronic chemical, high performance photography and oil and gas industry segments.

Currently, it has a capacity of over 4,000 MT.

The Surat-based company has recently raised over Rs 100 crore from White Oak Capital and IIFL in the pre-IPO round.

The company's operating revenue grew to Rs 450.23 crore in FY21, from Rs 301.87 crore in FY20, and its net profit climbed 75 per cent to Rs 71 crore in FY 21, from Rs 39.6 crore in FY20.

According to people familiar with the matter, the company has finalized the plan to raise Rs 800-1,000 crore through an initial public offer (IPO) and is expected to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the markets regulator Sebi next week.

The pandemic has compounded the situation further as companies across the world are looking for alternate supply solutions as they want to reduce dependence on China and develop either local supply chain or alternative chain.

As a result, several Indian players witnessed order inflows from global chemical players to meet the supply disruptions from China.

Amongst the recently listed specialty chemicals companies, shares of Laxmi Organics, Rossari Biotech, Clean Science Technologies, Tatva Chintan and Ami Organics have given returns in the range of 40 per cent to 200 per cent from their issue prices.