India’s budget supermarket chain Vishal Mega Mart files for $950 mln IPO

Indian budget supermarket chain Vishal Mega Mart on Thursday filed papers for an 80 billion rupee ($952 million) initial public offering, joining a growing list of companies tapping the country’s bustling capital market.

The company will not issue new shares in the IPO and will not receive any proceeds. Only an existing shareholder, Samayat Services, will sell shares, according to the IPO filing.

Founded in 2001, Vishal Mega Mart started off as a small clothing store, and now has 600 stores, mainly in smaller cities, that sell clothes and grocery items.

It competes with Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance, Tata Group’s Trent and grocery retailer Avenue Supermarts.

Indian stock markets have run up sharply this year, luring over 260 companies to raise more than $9 billion, more than double the amount raised via IPOs last year, data from LSEG showed.

Vishal Mega Mart received approval for its public offering from the Securities and Exchange Board of India last month after a confidential filing earlier in the year.

Kotak Mahindra Capital, Jefferies India, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are among the book running lead managers for the issue.