Officer's Choice whisky maker Allied Blenders raises Rs 449 cr ahead of IPO

Allied Blenders and Distillers Ltd, the maker of Officer's Choice Whisky, on Monday said it has raised Rs 449 crore from anchor investors a day before its initial share-sale opening for public subscription.

Nippon India Mutual Fund (MF), LIC MF, JM Financial MF, Jupiter India Fund, Societe Generale, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte, Wipro Commercial (India) Ltd and Troo Capital were among anchor investors who were allotted shares, according to a circular uploaded on BSE website.

The company has allotted 1.6 crore equity shares to 17 funds at Rs 281 apiece, which is also the upper end of the price band. This translates into a transaction size of Rs 449 crore, it added.

The Rs 1,500-crore issue with a price band of Rs 267 to Rs 281 per share will open for public subscription during June 25-27.

The initial share sale comprises fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 1,000 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of shares worth Rs 500 crore by promoters.

As a part of the OFS, Bina Kishore Chhabria, Resham Chhabria Jeetendra Hemdev and Neesha Kishore Chhabria will sell shares.

Broking firms have pegged the company's market capitalisation to Rs 7,860 crore post-issue.

Proceeds from the fresh issue worth Rs 720 crore will be used for the payment of debt, and a portion will be used for general corporate purposes.

The total debt on the company's books was around Rs 808 crore as of December 2023.

Half of the issue size has been reserved for qualified institutional investors, 35 per cent for retail investors and the remaining 10 per cent for non-institutional investors.

Further, investors can bid for 53 shares and in multiples thereof.

With a market share of over 8 per cent in the Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) market by sales volumes in Fiscal 2023, Allied Blenders and Distillers is engaged in the manufacturing, marketing and sale of alcoholic beverages in India and abroad.

The product portfolio of the firm comprises several brands of IMFL in whisky, brandy, rum and vodka.

Some of the major brands of the company include Officer's Choice Whisky, Sterling Reserve Whisky, Jolly Roger Rum and Class 21 Vodka.

ICICI Securities Ltd, Nuvama Wealth Management Ltd and ITI Capital Ltd are the book running lead managers to the issue. The equity shares of the company are proposed to be listed on the BSE and NSE.