Sula Vineyards files IPO papers with SEBI

India’s largest wine producer and seller, Sula Vineyards, on Saturday, filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO).

The Mumbai-based wine producer, in a public statement, stated that 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. The public offering will be entirely in offer for sale (OFS) under which shareholders like promoters, investors, and others will participate.

These shareholders are - promoter, founder, and CEO Rajeev Samant along with investors such as Cofintra, Haystack Investments Limited, Saama Capital III, Ltd, SWIP Holdings Limited, Verlinvest S.A, and Verlinvest France S.A. The equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE. Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd., CLSA India Pvt Ltd., and IIFL Securities Ltd. are the book-running lead managers and KFin Technologies Limited is the registrar to the offer.

The Mumbai-based winemaker is also one of the fastest growing alcoholic beverage companies in the country as of March 31, 2021, and has grown at a CAGR of 13.7 per cent between FY11 and FY21, according to Technopak report as mentioned in the DRHP.

Based on total revenue from operations, it has gained market share in the 100 per cent grapes wine category from 33 per cent in FY09 to 52 per cent in value in FY20 and further increased to 52.6 per cent in FY21.

The company's revenue from operations increased 8.60 per cent from Rs 417.96 crore in FY21 to Rs 453.92 crore in FY22. It also clocked a profit of Rs 52.14 crore in FY22 against Rs 3.01 crore from the previous year.

Sula also claims that its is recognised as the market leader across wine variants, including red, white and sparkling wine and distribute wines under a bouquet of popular brands such as Sula, its flagship brand besides other popular brands namely RASA, Dindori, The Source, Satori, Madera & Dia. Sula, currently, produces 56 different labels of wine across 13 distinct brands at its four owned and two leased production facilities located in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The company set up its first vineyard in 1996 and in the year 2000 was the first to introduce varietal wines in India with the launch of Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Zinfandel, Riesling, Red Sparkling, and dessert wine offerings.

In FY05, Sula launched the first wine tasting room in India at its winery in Nashik, Maharashtra followed by the country’s first vineyard resort in 2008, and in the same year, the wine-maker launched the first wine-themed music festival in India, “SulaFest”, at its Nashik facility in 2008.