Mamaearth, the skincare firm, has denied reports of putting its initial public offering (IPO) on hold due to poor market conditions.
Varun Alagh, CEO and co-founder, Mamaearth said that the reports were baseless.
“We are still in the IPO process, engaging with the regulators and bankers. We should get approval on IPO prospectus by next month,” Alagh told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.
Earlier, a Reuters report had said that Honasa Consumer which is the parent of Mamaearth is not proceeding with the IPO for the time-being due to weak market conditions.
The report quoting sources said that the company is in a “wait and watch mode’’ due to the volatile market conditions caused on account of worries over the financial health of banks.
While Mamaearth was last valued at $1.2 billion in January 2022, the report said that the company planned to start marketing the IPO and begin initial talks with investors by the end of January, but that has not happened yet.
It further added that in early informal talks with investors, there was a difference in the valuation that the company was seeking and what investors were willing to give.
Honasa Consumer had in December last year filed draft papers with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an initial public offering.
It is planning to raise Rs 400 crore through a fresh issue of shares, apart from an offer for sale (OFS) of around 4.7 crore shares.
Those offering shares in the OFS include promoters — Varun Alagh and Ghazal Alagh — and investors like Fireside Ventures Fund, Sofina, Stellaris, Kunal Bansal and Rohit Bansal, apart from Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra. Here, Alagh told the channel that there will not be any changes in the IPO size.
Meanwhile, Sensex snapped two-day losing streak to close 126 points higher on Monday, propped up by buying in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Maruti and SBI amid a higher opening in European equities.
However, investors remained cautious amid stress in the US and European financial systems, traders said.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 126.76 points or 0.22 per cent to finish at 57653.86. During the day, the index witnessed a high of 58019.55 and a low of 57415.02.
