Sebi clears S H Kelkar & Company's IPO plans

NEW DELHI: Fragrance maker S H Kelkar & Company has received capital market regulator Sebi's approval to float an initial public offer (IPO), including issuance of fresh shares worth Rs 200 crore.

With this, the number of firms receiving Sebi's green signal for IPO since the beginning of the year has reached 20.

The Mumbai-based company, which is in the business of fragrances, flavours and aroma chemicals, had filed draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with Sebi through its lead merchant banker J M Financial Institutional Securities in March.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued its final 'observations' on the draft offer documents on June 18, which is necessary for companies to go ahead with any public offer.

As per the draft papers, the IPO comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 200 crore and an offer for sale of 15,565,161 equity shares by existing shareholders, Blackstone Group and Prabha Ramesh Vaze.

Blackstone Group plans to offload up to 1.32 crore shares, while Vaze is selling up to 23.37 lakh scrips. The US-based private equity giant holds around 33 per cent stake in S H Kelkar.

The company plans to utilise funds from the fresh issue towards repayment of loan and for other general corporate purpose.

The regulator, so far this month, has given nod to six companies to launch IPOs. However, these firms are yet to launch their public offers.

Apart from S H Kelkar, other firms are Prabhat Dairy; Syngene International, research arm of biotechnology major Biocon; infrastructure firm Dilip Buildcon,; Kalpataru Power Transmission's subsidiary Shree Shubham Logistics and Amar Ujala Publications, which publishes Hindi daily Amar Ujala.