NEW DELHI: Mumbai-based Sula Vineyards, the country’s largest wine producer, said it has received the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI)’s approval to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO). The company had filed its draft papers with the capital markets regulator in July this year.
Sula is a market leader in the Indian wine industry in terms of sales volume and value since fiscal 2009. The issue, with a face value of Rs 2 per equity share, is a complete offer for sale (OFS), aggregating to 25,546,186 equity shares.
Sula set up its first vineyard in 1996 and it was the first to introduce varietal wines in India in 2000, with the launch of Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Zinfandel, Riesling, Red Sparkling, and dessert wine offerings. In fiscal 2005, it launched the first wine-tasting room in India at its winery in Nashik, Maharashtra, followed by the country’s first vineyard resort in 2008. In the same year, the wine-maker launched the first wine-themed music festival in India, ‘SulaFest’, at its Nashik facility.
‘SulaFest’ has been widely recognised as the largest wine music festival in India and one of the largest wine music festivals in Asia, based on attendance. In fiscal 2017, the company launched a wine-tasting room at its ‘Domaine Sula’ facility in Karnataka.
A release said Sula has been recognised as the market leader across wine variants, including red, white and sparkling wines. The company distributes wines under a bouquet of popular brands such as Sula, its flagship brand besides other brands namely RASA, Dindori, The Source, Satori, Madera and Dia. Currently, it produces 56 different labels of wine across 13 distinct brands at its four owned and two leased production facilities located in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Sula’s wine processing units are also located in the west and southwest of India, with the flagship facility located in Nashik and wine processing units located in Nashik and Dindori in Maharashtra, and Bengaluru and Basavakalyan in Karnataka.
Sula’s Shiraz Cabernet is India’s largest-selling wine by value in fiscal 2021, with its gross billings amounting to Rs 91.83 crore in FY22. Recently, it won five silver and four bronze at the Decanter World Wine Awards, 2022, and its Brut Tropicale won a gold medal at the International Wine Challenge-2022.
The company’s revenue from operations increased by 8.60 per cent from Rs 417.96 crore in fiscal 2021 to Rs 453.92 crore in fiscal 2022, primarily due to increase in sales of manufactured goods under its brands, an increase in the selling price of wine in select brands and markets, increase in revenue due to increased focus on premiumisation, favourable response to its wine tourism business and increase in revenue from other operating income (government grants). It clocked a profit of Rs 52.14 crore in the financial year 2022 against Rs 3.01 crore from the previous year.
Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, CLSA India and IIFL Securities are the book-running lead managers and KFin Technologies Limited is the registrar to the offer. The equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE. (ANI)