Boat owner seeks SEBI approval for Rs 2,000-crore IPO

Imagine Marketing Ltd, which owns Boat brand of earphones and smartwatches, has filed draft documents with the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for a Rs 2,000-crore initial public offering (IPO), the latest to join a string of companies looking to list on bourses.

The firm is backed by marquee investors such as Fireside Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures LLC and South Lake Investment Ltd, an affiliate of the Warburg Pincus Group.

The IPO consists of a fresh issue of Rs 900 crore and offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 1,100 crore by its existing promoters and shareholders.

The OFS comprises sale of up to Rs 150 crore worth of shares by Aman Gupta, Rs 150 crore by Sameer Mehta and Rs 800 crore by South Lake Investment Ltd.

Mehta and Gupta holds around 40.05 percent stake each in the company, with South Lake share’s at 19.32 percent.

Of the fresh issue, the firm will use around Rs 700 crore for paying debt. As of December 2021, the company had total secured and unsecured borrowings of Rs 764.18 crore.

Axis Capital, BofA Securities, Credit Suisse Securities India and ICICI Securities are the book-running lead managers to the issue.

Launched in 2014, Boat has established leading market positions in volume and value terms in India across multiple, high-growth consumer categories such as audio and smartwatch.

The firm offers products across a variety of price points and customer segments across multiple product categories, which comprise audio (wired headphones and earphones, wireless headphones and earphones (neckbands), true wireless stereo (TWS), Bluetooth speakers and home theatre systems and sound bars), wearables (smartwatches), gaming accessories (wired and wireless headsets, mouse and keyboards), personal care appliances (trimmers and grooming kits) and mobile accessories (chargers, cables, power banks and other accessories).

As of September 2021, for the second quarter of financial year 2022, the firm had ranked number one in India among the wireless hearables brands by value and volume and second rank among smartwatch brands in India in terms of volume.

For FY21, the firm reported income of Rs 1320.38 crore against Rs 609.96 crore a year ago. Net profit for the year stood at Rs 86.54 crore versus Rs 47.80 crore last year.

For six month period ended September 2021, its total income stood at Rs 1553.15 crore while net profit was at Rs 118.32 crore.