FirstCry set to withdraw $500 mn IPO papers after regulatory scrutiny: Report
Indian retailer FirstCry is set to withdraw its papers for an up to $500 million IPO as early as next week, after India’s markets regulator raised questions over key metrics it disclosed to investors, said three sources with direct knowledge of the issue.
FirstCry parent BrainBees filed papers with India’s Securities and Exchange Board of India last December for an IPO that would have been one of the country’s biggest this year. While it filed to raise about $215 million via fresh shares, it plans to raise $300 million more via sale of existing shares, the sources said.
However in recent weeks, SEBI told the company it had not complied with Indian regulations that mandate an IPO-bound company must share all key business metrics that in its papers that it has shared with prospective investors in the last three years, the three sources said.
FirstCry will now withdraw its IPO papers, make changes and refile them in the coming months, the sources said. That would delay the sale of shares by its investors, some of whose investments go back a decade.
