More Retail plans to go the IPO way for growth

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Samara Capital and Amazon-owned food and grocery retail chain More Retail plans to go for an initial public offering (IPO) in the next 12-18 months to raise capital to accelerate growth, said senior executives.

The IPO will allow Samara Capital an opportunity to dilute its 51% stake in the holding company of More Retail, Witzig Advisory Services. Samara Capital owns the stake through Samara Alternate Investment Fund. The balance 49% in Witzig is owned by Amazon through two entities – Coda Holdings Singapore and Coda Holdings LLC.

A Samara Capital spokesperson said it’s a long-term investment in More Retail and the company is not in a rush to exit its stake beyond what is required to be diluted in the IPO. He said the promoters have yet to decide on how much stake dilution will be made in the IPO.

The promoters last month infused ₹100 crore into Witzig Advisory Services, which in turn invested the same amount in More Retail, as per latest regulatory filings made to the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

More Retail has seen four senior executives putting in their papers recently – CEO of hypermarket business Mohit Kampani, CEO of supermarket Sashi Gumma, chief operating officer of hypermarket Gurpreet Sandhu and chief supply chain officer Satish Karunakaran. Kampani is serving his notice period.

A More Retail spokesperson said the exits were regular attrition as in any business and that the company has been attracting talent as well. He said More Retail has been growing its store footprint at a fast pace, having doubled the number of hypermarkets and adding 50% more supermarkets in the past three and a half years since the acquisition by Samara Capital.

“The shareholders are committed to the business and shall continue to support the growth and expansion through capital infusion,” he said.

More Retail currently operates 881 supermarkets and 42 hypermarkets. It plans to set up about 100 new stores, including ten hypermarkets, in this financial year.

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