Milky Mist Dairy Food's ₹1,553-Cr IPO To Open On Aug 11

Dairy products maker Milky Mist Dairy Food Ltd on Thursday fixed a price band of ₹133-140 per share for its ₹1,553 crore Initial Public Offering (IPO), which will open for subscription on August 11.

The initial share sale will conclude on August 13, while the bidding for anchor investors will open for a day on August 10, the company said in a public announcement.

The proposed public issue is set to be the largest IPO by an Indian dairy company. Listed peers in the sector include Parag Milk Foods Ltd, Hatsun Agro Product Ltd and Dodla Dairy Ltd.

The IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to ₹1,428 crore and an Offer For Sale (OFS) of up to ₹125 crore, taking the total issue size to ₹1,553 crore.

Earlier, Milky Mist had planned to mobilise ₹2,035 crore through its maiden public offering, according to its draft papers.

At the price band, the company is expected to command a post-issue market valuation of about ₹10,310 crore to ₹10,778 crore.

The IPO follows Milky Mist's ₹482 crore pre-IPO funding round in May this year from Jongsong Investments Pte Ltd, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings.

Proceeds from the fresh issue will be used towards repayment of borrowings and expansion and modernisation of the company's manufacturing facility at Perundurai, including setting up whey protein concentrate, yogurt and cream cheese plants.

The company also plans to expand its cold-chain infrastructure by deploying visi coolers, ice cream freezers and chocolate coolers, besides using a portion of the proceeds for general corporate purposes.

Founded in Erode, Tamil Nadu, Milky Mist is among India's leading premium dairy brands focused on value-added dairy products. Its portfolio includes paneer, cheese, curd, yogurt, butter, ghee and ice cream, among other products. The company does not operate in the liquid milk segment.

The company has reserved 50% of the offer for qualified institutional buyers, 15% for non-institutional investors and 35% for retail investors.

The equity shares are proposed to be listed on the BSE and NSE on August 18.

JM Financial, Axis Capital and IIFL Capital Services are the book-running lead managers to the issue, while KFin Technologies is the registrar.