“The company will file papers with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in the next 15-20 days to raise around ₹2,500 crore through an IPO. It is eyeing a primary funding along with a small secondary from existing investor Bain Capital," one of the persons said on the condition of anonymity.
VCCircle had exclusively reported about the IPO plans in August last year.
Bain Capital, which has a 35% stake in J M Baxi Ports & Logistics, is also likely to participate in the fundraising activity.
Both Bain Capital and J M Baxi Group declined to comment on the IPO plans.
J M Baxi Ports & Logistics could also consider a private placement given the sharp volatility in the equities market currently, said the second person mentioned above. The company would use the fresh funds to repay debt and for investments in its business and potential acquisitions, the person said.
J M Baxi Ports & Logistics plans to deploy about ₹1,000 crore for acquisitions over the next three to four years, the first person said.
In February 2021, Bain Capital, through its affiliate Integral Investments South East Asia VIII, had spent ₹1,317 crore for a 39.20% stake. Of this, ₹200 crore was infused in FY22 for the purchase of a 26% stake in Visakha Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd from DP World and two acquisitions under JM Baxi Heavy Pvt. Ltd. The Krishna Kotak family owns a 60.8% stake in J M Baxi Ports & Logistics.
Meanwhile, J M Baxi Heavy in March agreed to acquire Allcargo Logistics Ltd’s project forwarding and logistics business.
“In the last six months, we have been executing the existing strategies, filling the capacities we have built... We also plan to take the inorganic route to go deeper into our service offerings. We are consistently evaluating such opportunities," Dhruv Kotak, managing director at J M Baxi Group, said in an interview.
“We are in talks with third party logistics players who focus on import-export, custom clearances, warehousing, distribution, e-commerce, transportation, last mile, areas which we will focus on for acquisitions over the next 3-4 months," Kotak said.
For FY21, J M Baxi Ports & Logistics narrowed its consolidated net loss to ₹5 crore from ₹46 crore a year earlier, according to the latest available data. Operating income grew to ₹1,425 crore in FY21 from ₹1,266 crore in FY20.
Formerly known as International Cargo Terminals and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, J M Baxi Ports & Logistics is engaged in providing shipping logistic services and operates as a unit of J M Baxi Group.
The 105-year-old group is among the top five maritime and logistics firms in India with around seven units including the flagship J M Baxi Ports & Logistics.
