The gravity-defying story of Rossari Biotech IPO
If the current pandemic has taught us anything, it is to be resilient. It is no secret that businesses, big and small, are grappling with unfavourable situations, be it lack of labour, disturbed supply chain or disrupted logistic. Nonetheless, companies with strong fundamentals are able to minimise the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on their businesses.
Others entities manufacturing essential products are also sailing through the adversities. But there is a distinct set of companies that is blessed with a situational advantage with what’s happening on the Indo-China front. Rossari Biotech is one such company. The company recently went live and its stock was listed at an attractive premium, for all the right reasons. That’s what we will see in this article.
This article covers:
Introduction to Rossari Biotech IPO
An overview of the company that Rossari Biotech is
Who are Rossari Biotech’s competitors?
Highlights of Rossari Biotech IPO
How does Rossari Biotech plan to use the IPO funds?
Rossari Biotech’s financials and valuations
Impact of coronavirus on Rossari Biotech
What are the prospects of Rossari Biotech?
Introduction to Rossari Biotech IPO
In the business domain, Rossari Biotech would be a good example of how to take a second chance. In a bold move amid the coronavirus pandemic, Rossari Biotech, the specialty chemical company, announced its intention of going public. Surprisingly though, Rossari Biotech rocked the IPO on the back of strong books, growth track, and situational advantage.
An overview of Rossari Biotech Limited
Rossari Biotech is a specialty chemicals company—which claims to be the largest textile specialty chemicals manufacturer in India, offering products in a sustainable, eco-friendly, and competitive manner. The company also manufactures acrylic polymers and offers customized solutions to specific production and industrial requirements across three categories:
- Home, personal care, and performance chemicals
- Textile specialty chemicals
- Animal health and nutrition products
As of 31st May 2020, Rossari Biotech Limited had registered 2,030 products across these categories, selling them to customers including high-profile names such as Panasonic India, IFB Industries Ltd., and HUL.
Operations of Rossari Biotech
The supposedly India’s largest textile specialty chemicals manufacturer operates in 17 overseas locations including Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Mauritius. In India, it has 2 research and development facilities—one within the Silvassa manufacturing facility and another in Mumbai. The company is also setting up a new manufacturing facility at Dahej, Gujarat with a proposed installed capacity of 1,32,500 million tonnes per annum.
Competitors of Rossari Biotech
The company has international competitors such as Bayer Animal Health, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, Cargill India, and Zydus AH under the animal nutrition products segment. In the home, personal care, and performance chemicals category, Rossari Biotech competes against MNCs such as BASF, Merck, and Wacher AG.
Under the textile specialty chemicals segment, Rossari Biotech competes against players such as Archroma, Huntsman Corporation, and CHT Croda International. Within the country, Rossari Biotech competes against peers including Vinati Organics, Aarti Industries, Atul, Galaxy Surfactants, and Fine Organic Industries.
Highlights of Rossari Biotech IPO
What sets Rossari Biotech IPO apart from others is its gravity-defying performance. Originally scheduled to be issued on 18th Mar 2020, the Rossari Biotech IPO was rescheduled to 13th Jul 2020 citing that COVID-19 had tumbled the stock markets, which made the conditions unfavourable to go public.
But with the markets gearing up from the last few weeks, Rossari Biotech seized the opportunity to go public. Despite facing issues in promoting the issue and interacting with stakeholders online, Rossari Biotech IPO garnered much attention and was oversubscribed by 79 times. In this sense, the company serves as an example of how IPOs could work in the post-COVID era.
Rossari Biotech IPO details
The Rs 500-cr Rossari Biotech IPO hit the stock markets on 13th Jul 2020 at a price band of Rs 423-425 per share. But even before offering IPO, Rossari Biotech Limited had raised Rs 99.99 cr through a private placement of 23,52,920 shares to various investors including Axis New Opportunities AIF-I and Malabar India Fund. Later, on 10th Jul 2020, the company raised Rs 148.87 cr from anchor investors including ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, SBI Mutual Fund, and HDFC Mutual Fund.
When the IPO went live, the subscription was open until 15th Jul 2020 and was issued in a combination of:
- Fresh issue worth Rs 50 cr
- Offer for sale (OFS) of up to 52,50,000 shares sold by promoters Edward Menezes and Sunil Chari each
Here’s a table to quickly understand the details of Rossari Biotech IPO
| Particulars | Details |
| Subscription dates | 13th to 15th Jul 2020 |
| Price band | Rs 423 to Rs 425 per share |
| Fresh issue | Rs 50 crore |
| Offer For Sale | 1,05,00,000 shares worth Rs 444.15 cr to Rs 446.25 cr |
| Total IPO size | Rs 494.15 cr to Rs 496.25 cr |
| Minimum lot size | 35 shares |
| Face Value | Rs 2 per share |
| Retail Allocation | 35% |
| Listing on | NSE and BSE |
How does Rossari Biotech plan to use the IPO funds?
Rossari Biotech looks to use the proceeds of pre-IPO placement and the fresh issue to:
- Prepay or repay its debts worth Rs 65 cr
- Fund its working capital requirements worth Rs 50 crore
- Pay for general corporate purposes
How did Rossari Biotech IPO perform?
Rossari Biotech IPO was a huge success and was oversubscribed by 79 times. While the total issue size was 81,73,530 shares, the IPO received bids for 64,87,33,645 shares, as per NSE. Further, Rossari Biotech listed at Rs 669.25 per share on NSE at a 57.47% premium over its issue price.
Financials and valuations of Rossari Biotech
For FY 2020, each segment contributed to revenue as follows:
- Home care: 46.81% vs 18.63% in FY18
- Textile specialty: 43.71% vs 71.54% in FY18
- Animal healthcare: 9.48% vs in 9.83% in FY18
Here’s a chart depicting the same:https://live.amcharts.com/UzMzh/embed/
Over FY18-20 the company’s:
Speaking of PE multiple, the company’s peers traded at 20-35 as of 31st Mar 2020, whereas Rossari Biotech Ltd demanded a PE of 31 times. Even though the PE is overvalued, experts opine that investors could still benefit from the stock given its excellent growth, a strong book featuring only a 0.3 debt-equity ratio, and ample cash.
Impact of coronavirus on Rossari Biotech Ltd
Rossari Biotech is one of the very few companies that can benefit from the pandemic due to its product portfolio. Though the company faced a shortage of labour, supply chain constraints, and logistical issues during the initial stages of the lockdown, the unit’s utilisation improved with the easing of restrictions.
Further, with ongoing issues between India and China, domestic companies turned their back to Chinese suppliers and looked for affordable alternative options available in the country. While this shot the demand for Rossari’s disinfectants and sanitizers (due to their categorisation of essential goods) among other brands, the demand for textile specialty chemicals plunged.
What are the prospects of Rossari Biotech Ltd?
Rossari Biotech has bright prospects given robust management, sound corporate governance, and situational advantage.
- The increased awareness of home and personal hygiene would boost Rossari’s FMCG segment’s performance in the coming time
- Specifically, Indo-China tensions are set to benefit chemical companies such as Rossari as China is a major competitor of Rossari in the field. Together, the tensions ongoing and potential restrictions on imports from China, give Rossari a golden opportunity to flourish even more
- Rossari plans to venture into the construction chemicals market and water treatment solutions, breweries, pet shampoos, dairy industry, and distilleries, which may fuel its growth
However, a huge chunk of 43.71% revenue coming from the textile segment in FY20 is a matter of concern. But the good news is that this percentage has declined from 71.54% in FY18, which suggests that the company is diversifying well.
Rossari Biotech Ltd’s financial performance (in Rs crore)
| Particulars | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 |
| Revenue | 300.4 | 517.1 | 603.8 |
| Expenses | 263 | 453.7 | 515.8 |
| Net income | 25.4 | 45.4 | 65.0 |
Here’s a chart showing a 78% rise in Rossari’s net profit from 2017 to 2020https://live.amcharts.com/JiNTM/embed/
Conclusion
Rossari Biotech seems to be well-placed on the whole. The high demand for its FMCG products is just the icing on the cake. But an area that needs Rossari Biotech’s continued attention is meeting its working capital requirements as it is quite high.
