Chennai realty player preparing to go public by Dec 2022

Casagrand is gearing up to hit the capital market by December 2022, when it could emerge as the first realty player from Chennai to float its IPO.

Motialal Oswal and JM Financial have jointly been appointed as bankers for the IPO. Recently, Casagrand secured project-specific funding of Rs 1,200 cr from marquee investors such as Apollo Global and KKR.

Arun Mn, founder and MD, speaking about the company’s aggressive plans, said the rationale behind the IPO is build credence in the market as going public entails adherence to stringent statutory norms. Also, it will enable quick access to capital for growth. That it plans to dilute 15 per cent stake for use as stock options to its staff will be an encouraging feature to attract talent, he added.

Realty being a capital-intensive business, Casagrand is upbeat on entering the market. If the value maximisation and symbiotic ties are in sync, the company may look at clubbing its other ventures such as PropCare, SpaceIntell and Bizpark in the IPO phase. Though there is a sizeable expense for going public and realty is not a quarter on quarter kind of business, the entrepreneur believes the pros outweigh the cons of listing in the bourses.

“We are keen to emerge as the largest player in the country,” Arun said, noting that it will strengthen its business in Bengaluru and enter Hyderabad with an initial investment of Rs 1,500 crore, from where it is confident of garnering a sizeable chunk of its revenues. Chennai and Coimbatore, contribute over 60 per cent of its Rs 10,000 crore turnover.

He was quick to add Casagrand is not looking at becoming a pan-India player. Instead it will continue to become a predominant player in south by focusing on “three or four good markets.” It is also evaluating the option of attracting private equity at an enterprise level. As per Arun, post the first lockdown, the company had seen an uptick in home purchases, enabling it to post a good performance.