Aequs Files for $200M IPO via Confidential Route

New Delhi, Jun 3 (PTI) Aequs, a contract manufacturing firm for consumer durable goods and aerospace parts, has filed draft papers with the markets regulator Sebi through a confidential pre-filing route, with an aim to raise around USD 200 million.

The offer will comprise both a fresh issue of equity shares and an Offer For Sale (OFS) component.

In a pubic announcement on Tuesday, Aequs said it has pre-filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) for an IPO on a confidential basis with the stock markets regulator Sebi and stock exchanges.

Accordingly to people familiar with the development, the company is planning to launch an IPO worth USD 200 million.

To manage the offering, the company has appointed Kotak Mahindra Capital, JM Financial and IIFL Capital.

The board of directors of Aequs recently passed a resolution for approval to change its status from a private entity to a public company.

Aequs had received significant equity infusion over the years from its promoters to scale up operations. Additionally, it has attracted global investors such as Amicus Capital, Amansa Capital, Steadview Capital, Catamaran (the family office of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy), Sparta Group and the investment office of Desh Deshpande.

Aequs provides a fully vertically integrated, precision manufacturing ecosystem for the aerospace and consumer sectors. It runs manufacturing operations across three countries, India, France, and the USA, to provide supply chain efficiencies to its global customer base in multiple industry verticals. Further, it operates three manufacturing clusters (Belgavi, Hubballi & Koppal) in Karnataka.

Founder and CEO Aravind Melligeri has decades of experience in the aerospace segment and has been the co-founder of Quest Global Engineering.

On the financial front, the company's total income was around Rs 988 crore in FY24, and the total operating income was Rs 970 crore.

Aequs has opted for the confidential pre-filing route, which allows it to withhold public disclosure of IPO details under theHP until later stages. This route is gaining traction among Indian firms aiming for flexibility in their IPO plans.

Earlier this month, Groww filed its IPO papers through the same route. In recent months, commerce enablement platform Shiprocket, Tata Capital, edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah and Imagine Marketing, the parent company of wearables brand boAt, also chose confidential filings. In 2024, food delivery giant Swiggy and retail chain Vishal Mega Mart floated their IPOs following similar filings.

Online hotel aggregator OYO had used this route in 2023 but did not proceed with its IPO. Tata Play, formerly Tata Sky, was the first Indian company to utilise the confidential filing option in December 2022 and received Sebi's observation letter in April 2023, though it later withdrew from the public issue.

Market experts note that the confidential pre-filing route offers companies greater flexibility and reduces the pressure to go public quickly. Unlike the traditional route, which requires companies to launch their IPOs within 12 months of receiving Sebi's approval, the pre-filing route extends this window to 18 months from the receipt of final comments. Additionally, firms can modify the primary issue size by up to 50 per cent until the updatedHP stage.