Ashok Soota’s Happiest Minds Files Draft IPO Papers With SEBI
The proposed IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 110 crore and an offer for sale by Ashok Soota and JPMorgan’s PE firm.
Happiest Minds Technologies Ltd. has taken the first step to go public.
The mid-sized information technology company, founded by Ashok Soota in 2011, has filed a draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for an initial public offering.
The proposed IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 110 crore and an offer for sale of 3.56 crore by promoter Soota and investor JPMorgan’s private equity entity CMDB II, according to the DRHP. While Soota—also co-founder of Mindtree Ltd.—is planning to pare 6% of his holding in the company, JPMorgan is looking to exit fully.
The price band of the IPO and the minimum bid lot will be decided by the company and its selling shareholders in consultation with the lead managers. ICICI Securities Ltd. and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Pvt. are the book-running lead managers to the issue.
The company will use the funds raised to meet its long-term working capital requirements and for general corporate purposes, the draft prospectus said.
Happiest Minds’ proposed IPO is the first since SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd.’s billion-dollar offering on March 2-5. Weeks later, India went under the world’s strictest lockdown to contain spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Soota founded Happiest Minds after stepping down from his post as chairman of Mindtree, where he spent nearly 12 years. Prior to that, he was with Wipro Ltd. for 14-and-a-half years. Happiest Minds offers digital services, including product engineering, infrastructure management and security services.
The company turned profitable in financial year 2018-19. As on March 31, 2020, it had gross debt of Rs 70 crore, cash and cash equivalents of Rs 43.5 crore and current investments worth Rs 83.3 crore.