 "More Retail plans ₹2,000 crore IPO, targets Ebitda-positive in FY26")
Samara Capital and Amazon-backed food and grocery retail player More Retail is likely to raise around ₹2,000 crore by diluting 10 per cent through an initial public offering (IPO) in 12 to 18 months.
Vinod Nambiar, managing director, More Retail Private Limited said, “We want to raise enough money to have the ability to expand over the next five years. By 2030, we want to be a 3,000-store network.”
Currently, More Retail has 775 stores.
Samara holds 51 per cent in the company while Amazon has 48 per cent. The balance is with HNI and family offices.
The funds would be used to make the company debt-free apart from funding expansion plans. Currently, the debt is to the tune of ₹500 crore – a mix of term loan and non-convertible debentures (NCDs).
Between now and the public offering, the company plans to reduce debt by about half. It aims to be debt-free after the IPO.
The IPO will also put enough firepower in the company to expand at pace, Nambiar said.
In FY26, the company plans to step up the store count to 1,013, hoping to add 250-300 stores in FY27.
More Retail hopes to be profit-after-tax (PAT)-positive in two years. In FY26, it expects to be Ebitda-positive.
Nambiar said that shareholders were extremely positive about the business. Over the last five years, they have invested ₹900 crore between Samara, Amazon and the family offices. Of this, about ₹150 crore was from the family offices.
“A lot of it went towards funding our losses as we got the business into shape,” Nambiar explained. In the last 60 days, it has raised another ₹150 crore from Amazon and Samara, which was to fund the expansion.
The priority geographies for More Retail would be Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
In FY25, More Retail clocked in gross sales of ₹4,985 crore. Of this, ₹1,045 crore was from online, which was basically its business with Amazon Fresh. More Retail is India’s only partner for Amazon Fresh.
In FY26, More Retail is eyeing sales of ₹6,000 crore and ₹7,500-8,000 crore in FY27.
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