PepsiCo bottler Varun Beverages' IPO to open on October 26

PepsiCo Inc's bottler Varun Beverages on Wednesday announced that its Initial Public Offering (IPO) valued at Rs 1,000 crore will open on October 26 and close on October 28. The price band has been set at Rs 440-445 per share.

Proceeds from the IPO will be used to repay part of the Rs 1,700 crore debt, which was taken to boost its expansion plans over the last few years. Delhi-based businessman Ravi Jaipuria and his son Varun Jaipuria, who own the flagship firm, will each sell five million shares in the public offering, while the company will sell 15 million new shares.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Co Ltd, Axis Capital Ltd, CLSA India Pvt. Ltd. and YES Securities (India) have been hired to manage the IPO.

Varun Beverages accounts for about 45 percent of PepsiCo's volumes in India. The firm is the only bottler and distributor of PepsiCo in the North and East India, with the exception of Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand regions, Jaipuria told the media.

Last month, Varun Beverages Ltd won the stock market regulator's approval for its Rs 1,000 crore worth Initial Public Offering. The company secured clearance from the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on August 31.

In October last year, the company had raised Rs 600 crore from Aion Investments, a Singapore-based company. The company had then said it would utilise the funds for expanding its business and "refinancing debt."

Varun Beverages is PepsiCo's product distributor in 17 states and two Union Territories across India. It is also PepsiCo's second-largest bottler in South Asia and has, apart from India, operations in Nepal and Sri Lanka. It also sells PepsiCo's products in parts of Africa.