CL Educate plans IPO to mop up around Rs 275-300 cr

Education services company CL Educate plans to raise around Rs 275-300 crore through initial public offer (IPO) in December this year.
The proceeds of the issue will be used for acquisitions and other strategic initiatives, repayment of loans, to fund working capital requirements and for other general corporate purposes.
The company plans to come out with a public issue of up to 46,90,533 equity shares. This includes a fresh issue of 20,60,652 shares and an offer for sale of up to 26,29,881 scrips by existing shareholders in December 2016, CL Educate Executive Director and CFO Nikhil Mahajan told reporters.
Kotak Mahindra Capital Company will manage the IPO.

"We see lot of inorganic opportunities. We have relied on inorganic growth as a key part of our growth strategy, including for our expansion into new business segments.
"For instance, we acquired a 51 per cent stake in Accendere Knowledge Management Services in 2015, GK Publications in 2011, Kestone Integrated Marketing Services in 2008, Law School Tutorials and Arun Roy Classes, both in 2004 and Khurana Information and Training Systems in 2000," Mahajan said.

The New Delhi-based firm provides educational services across the value chain, including content and infrastructure.
"We may continue to evaluate opportunities for alliances, collaborations, partnerships, investments and acquisitions that meet our strategic and financial return criteria, and to strengthen our portfolio of product, service, content and infrastructure offerings in the education sector," he said.

"We are continuing to explore opportunities to increase penetration of our test prep business by offering an increased number of courses through, and increasing enrollments with, our individual test prep centres. In addition, we are continuing to explore opportunities to expand our distribution network," he said.