Pen maker Flair Writing Industries files Rs 745-cr IPO papers with Sebi

Pen maker Flair Writing Industries Ltd has filed preliminary papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to raise Rs 745 crore through an initial public offering (IPO).

The IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 365 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of equity shares worth up to Rs 380 crore by promoters and promoter group entities, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed on Friday.

Those offering shares in the OFS are -- Khubilal Jugraj Rathod, Vimalchand Jugraj Rathod, Nirmala Khubilal Rathod, Manjula Vimalchand Rathod, Rajesh Khubilal Rathod, Mohit Khubilal Rathod, Sumit Rathod; Sangita Rajesh Rathod; Shalini Mohit Rathod and Sonal Sumit Rathod.

At present, promoters and promoter group entities own a 100 per cent stake in the company.

The company proposes to utilize the net proceeds of the fresh issue for setting up a manufacturing facility for writing instruments at Valsad district, in Gujarat; funding its capital expenditure and its arm Flair Writing Equipments; funding its working capital requirements and its subsidiaries, FWEPL and Flair Cyrosil Industries, payment of the loan, and general corporate purposes.

The company, which owns the over 45-year-old flagship brand "Flair", is among the top three players in the overall writing instruments industry with a market share of about nine per cent, as of March 2023.

It manufactures and distributes writing instruments including pens, stationery products, and calculators, and has also diversified into manufacturing houseware products and steel bottles.

Nuvama Wealth Management Ltd (formerly known as Edelweiss Securities Ltd) and Axis Capital Ltd are the book-running lead managers to the IPO issue.

In September 2018, the pen maker filed Rs 450-crore IPO papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).