Indian retailer FirstCry gets regulatory nod for IPO

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's market regulator, on Monday, approved baby products retailer FirstCry's filing for an initial public offering at the second time of asking, after having raised doubts over certain aspects in the first submission.

FirstCry, backed by Softbank, TPG and Mahindra and Mahindra, sells baby products such as clothes, diapers and toys, and is seeking to tap the market for new parents in the world's most populous country, amid a booming IPO market.

It first filed IPO papers, which Reuters reported was for up to $500 million, with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) last December.

But SEBI told the company that it had not complied with regulations that mandate an IPO-bound company must audit and disclose all key metrics that it has shared with prospective investors in the last three years, Reuters had reported.

FirstCry latest filing, on June 28th, did not elaborate on the questions that were raised, nor did it disclose how much the IPO would be worth.

The number of Indian companies looking to go public has surged this year, looking to tap into investor demand as the equity market scales fresh records regularly.

A total of 129 companies have raised raising $4.32 billion in IPOs this year through Friday, more than double the amount raised last year, according to LSEG data.

During its first filing, FirstCry said it would use the IPO funds to expand its network in India and Saudi Arabia and to clear leases for existing Indian stores, totaling 936 at the time.

Its losses surged six-fold to $57.6 million in the year ended March 31, 2023, while its total income more than doubled to $684 million, the papers showed.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Morgan Stanley, Bofa Securities and JM Financial are among the bookrunners of the IPO. ($1 = 83.4207 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)