Friday, 25 March 2022 | PNS | New Delhi
Yoga Guru Swami Ramdev of the Patanjali Group said that with its further public offering (FPO), Ruchi Soya Industries Limited, a diversified FMCG and FMHG focused company, will become debt-free after April this year. The company has garnered Rs 1,290 crore from anchor investors ahead of its FPO that opened for public subscription on Thursday.The FPO is going to be only a fresh issuance of equity shares to public investors without any offer for sale component.
Addressing the media here on Thursday, Ramdev of Patanjali said that on March 20 this year, the company, amongst other things informed the bourses that the price band for its FPO has been set at Rs 615 per equity share (at the lower end of the price-band) to Rs 650 per equity share (at the higher end of the price-band). On Thursday it informed the bourses that 1,98,43,153 equity shares have been allocated to anchor investors at the upper-end of the price-band – Rs 650 per equity share on Wednesday against the applications from various anchor investors.
He further informed that Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, The Sultanate of Oman – Ministry of Defence Pension Fund, Yas Takaful PJSC (an Abu Dhabi based insurance company), MK Cohesion, UPS Group and Alchemy are among the foreign investors that received allocation under the anchor investor portion of the FPO. In addition, equity shares have been allocated to domestic investors like Ask Investments, Volrado Ventures, Kotak Mutual Fund, SBI Pension Fund, UTI Mutual Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Quant Mutual Fund, Winro Commercial, HDFC Life Insurance, SBI Life Insurance and Authum Investments under the anchor investor portion of the FPO. Axis Capital Limited, ICICI Securities Limited and SBI Capital Markets Limited arethe book running lead manager for the FPO (BRLM).
The FPO comprises equity shares of face value of Rs two each aggregating to Rs 4,300 crore. The FPO proceeds are proposed to be used for repaying the company’s lenders, supplementing the working capital requirements of the company and other general corporate purposes which will result in further improvement in financial performance.
Ramdev further said that Ruchi Soya is the pioneer and largest manufacturers of soya foods in India under the brand name of Nutrela. Ruchi Soya has expanded its packaged food portfolio by acquiring the ‘Patanjali’ product portfolio of biscuits, cookies, rusks, noodles, and breakfast cereals and is a part of the Patanjali group, one of India’s leading FMCG and health and wellness company. In the past year, Ruchi Soya also forayed into the niche and high growth FMHG segment with the launch of its nutraceuticals products on the back of a decade of research by the Patanjali Group. The FPO opened for subscription to the public on March 24 and will close on March 28.
It is pertinent to mention here that Ruchi Soya has a total of 23 processing plants– of which 17 are currently operational– across India. These include 10 processing plants functioning as oil crushing and refinery units, and one biscuit manufacturing plant with yearly processing capacity of 27,900 metric tonnes.
The company has pan India network of over 97 sale depots and 4,763 distributors who in turn reach out directly to 4,57,788 retail outlets in the urban, semi urban and rural areas of the country.
Ruchi Soya is a diversified FMCG and FMHG focused company, with strategically located manufacturing facilities and well recognised brands having pan India presence. They are one of the largest FMCG companies in the Indian edible oil sector and one of the largest fully integrated edible oil refining companies in India. Being the pioneers and largest manufacturers of soya foods has aided their brand ‘Nutrela’ in becoming a household name in India. They are across the entire value chain in palm and soya segment, with a healthy mix of upstream and downstream business. It is the largest player in terms of allocated zones, to undertake palm plantation, by the government, which assists the company in backward integration of sourcing palm oil. Their integration also extends downstream to the oleo-chemicals and other by-product and derivatives business.
Leveraging upon the brand Nutrela, they have launched a range of premium edible oils and blended edible oils and ‘Nutrela High Protein Chakki Atta’ and ‘Nutrela Honey’ in fiscal 2021. In fiscal 2022, they forayed into a niche and a high growth FMHG segment with the launch of their Nutraceutical business. They are also into the wind power generation business, where the renewable power generated is used for sale and for captive use. This also helps them to offset their carbon footprint, to the extent possible.
