 "D-Mart")
D Mart, retail chain owned by prominent stock market investor R K Damani, is looking to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore though an Initial Public Offer (IPO) of its equity shares.
It will be the first such in the sector after Vishal Retail hit the capital market in 2007.
D Mart’s parent, Avenue Supermarts, third largest in the sector after Reliance Retail and Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, has moved a resolution to seek approval for the issue from its shareholders at the coming annual general meeting.
Avenue has also sought shareholder approval to borrow up to Rs 2,000 crore.
According to reports, the company has appointed four investment bankers for the IPO. Though the company has not given any time frame, reports indicate the IPO is likely to hit the market in the second half of the next calendar year.
The company said it had appointed C B Bhave, former head of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), as an independent director on its board,, with effect from May 17 for five years. Earlier with the Indian Administrative Service, he was chairman of Sebi between February 2008 and February 2011.
Bhave is also a director with Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements.
D Mart is one of the few profit making grocery retailers, known for low-priced products and a low-cost business model. It set up its first store at Powai here in 2002 and now operates in 110 locations across several states.
Rivals such as Spencer’s Retail, Aditya Birla Retail, Shoppers Stop-owned Hypercity and Tata-owned Star Bazaar, which either started operations or expansion after 2006, are yet to break even at the entity level. In 2014-15, D Mart reported a profit of Rs 211 crore and sales of Rs 6,450 crore. It operates stores of 10,000 to 50,000 sq ft each and plans to soon launch e-commerce operations.
GROWTH CHART
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Set up first store in 2002 in Mumbai
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Runs 110 outlets overall
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Operations in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.
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Made profit of Rs 211 crore and clocked sales worth Rs 6450 crore in FY2015
- Known for discounts and no frills stores
