Wellness Forever plans $160 mn IPO

MUMBAI: Wellness Forever, an omnichannel retail pharmacy chain backed by investors such as Adar Poonawala of Serum Institute of India Ltd, has started working on an initial public offering (IPO) that will see it raise ₹1,000-1,200 crore, said two people aware of the development, on condition of anonymity.

Founded in 2008, Wellness Forever is promoted by Ashraf Biran, Gulshan Bakhtiani and Mohan Chavan. The company’s Wellness Forever pharmacy stores are present across Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur and Satara in Maharashtra, and in Goa and Karnataka. “This will be the first pharmacy retail chain to list on the Indian stock exchanges,” said one of the two people cited above.

“The company has already appointed investment banks and other advisers for the IPO. The work on its draft red herring prospectus is expected to begin soon. They will look at going public within this calendar year,” he added.

The proposed IPO will be a mix of primary and secondary share sales, said the second person. “They need money to grow. They want to add hundreds of new stores in the coming years, expand to more states and all of that will need a lot of money. So far they have been funded mostly by HNIS (high net-worth individuals) and family offices. The IPO will see some of those investors sell part of their stakes in the company,” he added.

In November, the company had raised ₹130 crore from HNIS led by Poonawalla. Other backers include Amit Patni, Rajiv Dadlani and the Thakral family.

An email to Wellness Forever did not elicit a response.