Alkem Laboratories gets Sebi's nod to float IPO

Drug maker Alkem Laboratories has received capital markets regulator Sebi's approval to raise an estimated Rs 1,500-3,500-crore through an initial public offering (IPO).
This would be one of the biggest offerings in the pharma space in a long time.
Alkem Laboratories filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with Sebi on August 6 for a public issue of its equity shares.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has cleared the proposed initial share sale and gave its final observations on the IPO on October 19.
As per the draft papers, the company will come out with a public offer of up to 12,853,442 equity shares.

According to sources, the company is expected to mobilise Rs 1,500-3,500 crore through its maiden public offering.

The firm, which has a significant presence in the country, plans to expand its footprint internationally.
Mumbai-headquartered Alkem, which was founded in 1973, began operations as a healthcare marketing company.
It has proposed to list its shares on the NSE and BSE.
The issue is being managed by Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India), Axis Capital, J P Morgan India and Edelweiss Financial Services.
Since the beginning of 2015, as many as 37 companies have filed their draft documents with Sebi to float their IPOs. In the same period, the markets watchdog has given approval to 29 firms to launch their initial share sale plans, some of which were pending from previous year.

So far this year, 16 companies have launched their IPOs and have collectively raised about Rs 7,800 crore, making it the best period in four years in terms of fund raising through initial share-sale programmes.
In comparison, six IPOs had hit the market in the entire 2014 and together garnered just Rs 1,261 crore, while three firms had launched their public issues in 2013 to mobilise Rs 1,284 crore.