Oyo, Snapdeal, Droom IPO plans await SEBI nod even after a year

Six companies are yet to get approval for their initial share sale plans after having filed the draft documents about a year ago, according to the stock market regulator.

Lava International, BVG India and Oyo parent Oravel Stays filed their draft papers about one year ago, while Droom Technology filed them 11 months ago. Snapdeal and Protean eGov Technologies submitted the documents to the Securities and Exchange Board of India 10 months ago.

The companies were yet to respond to queries from Moneycontrol seeking comment on the matter.

Typically, SEBI approves the draft papers for an initial public offering in two or three months.

In the case of Lava International and BVG India, SEBI said in its weekly newsletter that it has sought comments from other regulators or agencies. For the other companies, the regulator said it is awaiting additional clarification from their lead managers.

SEBI’s website neither revealed what additional information has been sought nor identified the lead managers.

Market conditions

According to Prime Database, 46 companies proposing to sell shares worth a combined Rs 67,000 crore are awaiting SEBI approval, while 67 that plan to sell shares worth Rs 1 lakh crore have received the go-ahead and are waiting for market conditions to improve before launching their IPOs.

In 2021, 63 companies sold a record Rs 1.2 lakh crore of shares through IPOs.

Japan’s SoftBank-backed hotel aggregator Oyo’s parent Oravel Stays, which filed papers in October 2021, plans to sell Rs 7,000 crore of shares via a fresh issue and raise Rs 1,430 crore through an offer for sale by existing shareholders, including SoftBank Group.

The bookrunning lead managers to the offer are Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, JP Morgan India, Citigroup Global Markets India,  ICICI Securities, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India), JM Financial and Deutsche Equities India.

According to sources, the delay in getting SEBI approval was because the company sought to update its draft prospectus after its financial metrics improved significantly since the pandemic ebbed.

Snapdeal, an e-commerce company founded by Kunal Bahl and childhood friend Rohit Bansal, filed papers in December 2021. It plans to sell new shares to raise Rs 1,250 crore through the IPO, which will see investors including SoftBank and Sequoia Capital selling some shares.

Axis Capital, BofA Securities India, CLSA India and JM Financial are the lead managers.

Automobile e-commerce platform Droom Technology submitted its draft documents to the regulator in November 2021. Droom Technology plans to raise Rs 2,000 crore through a fresh issue and Rs 1,000 crore via an offer for sale (OFS).

Promoters Sandeep Aggarwal and Droom Pte hold 100 percent stake in the company. Droom, which competes with startups such as CarDekho, Cars24, Spinny and CarTrade, has lead managers including ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, Edelweiss Financial Services, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) and Nomura Financial Advisory.

Lava International, a maker of smartphones, filed draft papers in September 2021. Its IPO consists of a fresh issue of Rs 500 crore and an OFS of up to 43.73 million shares by existing investors. Axis Capital, BOB Capital, DAM Capital and SBI Capital Markets are among the merchant bankers.

3i Group-backed BVG India, which offers management services, filed draft papers in October 2021. Its IPO comprises a fresh issue of Rs 200 crore and an offer for sale of up to 7.2 million shares. ICICI Securities, JM Financial and HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) are the merchant bankers to the issue.

Protean eGov Technologies filed draft papers in December 2021. The company, which issues Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards and helps government agencies in e-governance projects, plans a pure offer for sale of 12.08 million shares by its existing promoters and shareholders.

According to news reports, the share sale would be worth Rs 3,000 crore. ICICI Securities, Equirus Capital, IIFL Securities, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities India are the bookrunning lead managers to the issue.