Barbeque Nation IPO: Opens today; Key details you should know before subscribing

Barbeque Nation will open its initial public offering (IPO) for subscription today, i.e. on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in the price band of Rs 498-500 per equity share. The public offer of the company will close on Friday, March 26, 2021.

Through its initial public offer, Barbeque Nation plans to raise around Rs 452.87 crore at the upper end of the price band. The IPO consists of a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 180 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 5.46 million equity shares worth Rs 272.85 crore by the present shareholders and promoters.

The shareholders who will offload their stakes through the OFS are Sayaji Housekeeping Services, Azhar Dhanani, Sadiya Dhanani, Sanya Dhanani, Tamara, Aajv Investment Trust and Menu Private Limited.

According to data on stock exchanges, the Barbeque Nation IPO market lot size is 30 shares. A retail investor can apply for a maximum of up to 13 lots, specifically 390 shares or Rs 195,000.

The company has reserved Rs 2 crore worth of equity for its employees. 75 per cent of the total book size is reserved for qualified institutional buyers, 10 per cent for retail investors and the remaining 15 per cent for non-institutional investors.

The company will utilise the net proceeds from the fresh issue towards expansion and opening of new restaurants, repayment of certain outstanding borrowings, and for general corporate purposes. The offer for sale money will go to existing shareholders who are offloading stake.

The shares are proposed to be listed on stock exchanges BSE and NSE. The date of the listing is not decided as yet.

The book running lead managers to the issue are IIFL Securities, Axis Capital, Ambit Capital and SBI Capital Markets. Equity shares offered in the IPO are proposed to be listed on the BSE as well as National Stock Exchange.

Besides, the casual dining chain Barbeque Nation Hospitality on Tuesday raised Rs 203 crore from anchor investors ahead of its initial share-sale, which opens for public subscription on Wednesday. The company's IPO committee has decided to allocate 40,57,861 shares at Rs 500 per share to 21 anchor investors. At this price, the company raised Rs 202.89 crore, according to a statement.

The anchor investors include Goldman Sachs India Ltd, Nomura Funds Ireland Public Limited Company, Fidelity Investment Trust, SBI Mutual Fund (MF), ICICI Prudential MF, Kotak MF, Aditya Birla Sunlife MF, HDFC MF, HDFC Life Insurance Company, Kuber India Fund, Pioneer Investment Fund and UPS Global Trust.

Barbeque Nation Hospitality is backed by private equity investor CX Partners and renowned stock market investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's investment firm Alchemy Capital.

Barbeque Nation

Barbeque Nation was founded in 2006 by one of the promoters, Sayaji Hotels. It currently owns and operates 138 outlets in India, 5 outlets in UAE, 1 outlet in Malaysia and 1 outlet in Oman. Barbeque-Nation Hospitality launched its first Barbeque Nation restaurant in 2008 and subsequently acquired five restaurants owned and operated by Sayaji Hotels in 2012. One of the leading casual dining chains in India, Barbeque Nation pioneered the concept of "over the table barbeque" live grills embedded in dining tables – allowing guests to grill their own barbecue's right at their tables.

Now it functions as the country's fastest-growing restaurant brand and offers a wide variety of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals. Barbeque Nation Restaurants typically offer customers at least five vegetarian and five non-vegetarian largely pre-cooked appetisers they can season and barbeque on a grill embedded in their table, an all-you-can-eat main course buffet and a selection of desserts.