Barbeque Nation Gets Approval From SEBI To Issue IPO

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has provided its approval to casual dining chain Barbeque Nation Hospitality to raise about Rs 1,000-1,200 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). The IPO will comprise of fresh issue of shares worth Rs 275 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 98,22,947 equity shares, according to its draft papers filed with SEBI.

The company may consider a pre-IPO placement to the tune of Rs 150 crore, a PTI report said.

Barbeque Nation Hospitality, which had filed its draft papers with Sebi in February, obtained "observations" from the regulator on July 7, latest update with the capital markets watchdog showed.

SEBI's observations are necessary for any company to launch public issues like initial public offering (IPO), follow-on public offer (FPO) and rights issue.

Proceeds of the issue will be utilized to repay an outstanding borrowing of Rs 205 crore in part or full and for general corporate purposes.

The company is promoted by Sayaji Hotels, Sayaji Housekeeping Services, Kayum Dhanani, Raoof Dhanani and Suchitra Dhanani and is backed by private equity firm CX Partners, which made its first investment in 2013 and again in 2015.

The promoters hold 60.24 percent, CX Partners owns 33.79 percent and renowned stock market investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's investment firm Alchemy Capital holds 2.05 percent in the company.

According to market sources of PTI, the IPO size will approximately be between Rs 1,000 crore-1,200 crore.

The issue is being managed by IIFL Securities, Axis Capital, Ambit Capital and SBI Capital Markets.