Avenue Supermarts raises Rs 561 cr from anchor investors; IPO to open today

Avenue Supermarts, the operator of retail chain D-Mart, today raised nearly Rs 561 crore by allotting shares to anchor investors ahead of its IPO today.

The price band for the initial public offer (IPO) has been set at Rs 295-299. It would open today and close on March 10.

The company has allotted little over 1.87 crore shares to 35 anchor investors at the upper price band of Rs 299 apiece. It has mopped up nearly Rs 561 crore, according to a filing to the BSE.

Government of Singapore, JP Morgan, Smallcap World Fund, New World Fund, Fidelity, T Rowe Price, HDFC MF, Reliance MF, ICICI Prudential MF and SBI MF are among the anchor investors.

Avenue Supermarts plans to raise Rs 1,870 crore through the IPO and the proceeds would be utilised for various purposes, including loan repayment.

Nine merchant bankers -- Kotak Mahindra Capital, Axis Capital, Edelweiss Financial Services, HDFC Bank, ICICI Securities, JM Financial Institutional Securities, Inga Capital, SBI Capital Markets and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors -- would be managing the offer.