Sapphire Foods subscribed 49% on Day-1 on strong retail interest

Sapphire Foods is one of Yum's franchisee operators in the Indian subcontinent; it runs KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell outlets

The IPO of Sapphire Foods was subscribed 49 per cent on Tuesday, the first day of the issue. Most of the bids on the first day came from retail investors. Sapphire Foods is one of Yum’s franchisee operators in the Indian subcontinent. The company operates KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell outlets. The price band for the IPO is Rs 1,120-1,180 per share. At the top-end, Sapphire will be valued at nearly Rs 7,500 crore. “The company is going to list at an EV/EBITDA of 41.38 times while its peers Jubilant Foodworks and Westlife Development are trading at an EV/EBITDA of 49.26 and 73.55 respectively. We assign “subscribe” rating to this IPO as the company is a leading QSR brand with a substantial market presence and has a scalable new restaurant economic model for expansion. Also, it is available at reasonable valuation as compared to its peers,” said a note by Marwadi Shares and Finance.