PepsiCo's bottler Varun Beverages Ltd has won the stock market regulator's approval for its Rs. 1,000 crore worth Initial Public Offering (IPO). The company secured clearance from the Securities Exchange Board of India or Sebi's on August 31.
Varun Beverages, which is the flagship firm of Delhi-based businessman Ravi Jaipuria, had filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus with Sebi on June 21, Mint reported. Confirming the latest development, the firm told the publication that "the timing of the opening the IPO will be decided by the Book Running Lead Managers."
The management of the Gurugram-based firm are currently travelling across the country giving presentations to potential investors, analysts and fund managers and may launch the IPO sometime in October, a source told Mint.
According to previous reports earlier this year, it was reported that the company might raise about Rs. 1,000 crore through its IPO.
In October last year, the PepsiCo's bottler had raised Rs. 600 crore from Aion Investments, which is a Singapore-based company. During that time, the company had said it would utilise the fund for expanding its business and "refinancing debt," Business Standard had reported.
PepsiCo had earlier announced that it would invest about Rs. 33,000 crore in the country by 2020. It had sold its entire bottling units in North India to Varun Beverages in November 2014.
Varun Beverages is PepsiCo's product distributor in 17 states and two Union Territories across India. It is also PepsiCo's second largest bottler in South Asia and has, apart from India, operations in Nepal and Sri Lanka. It also sells PepsiCo's products in parts of the African continent.
