Star Agriwarehousing files IPO papers with SEBI; aims to raise ₹450 crore via fresh issue

Star Agriwarehousing and Collateral Management Ltd, a tech-driven agricultural services firm, has filed preliminary papers with capital markets regulator SEBI to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO).

The proposed IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to ₹450 crore and an Offer-For-Sale (OFS) component of 2.69 crore equity shares by promoters and an investor, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed on Wednesday.

As part of the OFS, Claymore Investments (Mauritius) Pte, an indirect subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, is offering 1.19 crore equity shares through the OFS and the remaining 1.5 crore shares will be offloaded by promoters.

At present, Claymore holds 11.83% stake in Star Agriwarehousing and Collateral Management and promoters own 88.17% stake in the company. The company may consider raising ₹90 crore through a pre-IPO placement. If this placement happens, the fresh issue size will be reduced.

The Maharashtra-based company plans to utilise the proceeds of the fresh issue worth ₹120 crore to partly fund its working capital requirements and ₹125 crore towards the working capital needs of its subsidiary, FFIPL.

Additionally, ₹100 crore will be infused into its subsidiary, AFL, to augment its capital and the remaining amount will be allocated towards general corporate purposes. Star Agriwarehousing and Collateral Management is a technology-led integrated agricultural value-chain services platform, engaged in providing services such as procurement, trade facilitation, warehousing, collateral management, financing solutions, digital marketplace and technology-based value-added data services.

Among the players in integrated agricultural services, the company is the largest in terms of revenue and the most profitable technology-led integrated value chain services platform during fiscals 2022 to 2024, as per an F&S Report.

As per the F&S Report, the company is estimated to be the largest player within the agricultural commodity-based financing (Collateral Management) in India as of June 30, 2024, with an AUM (asset under management) between ₹130 billion and ₹165 billion, serviced by the largest agricultural warehousing capacity of 4.5 to 5.2 MMT, as of June 30, 2024.

JM Financial, Ambit and Equirus Capital are book-running lead managers to the issue.