Rarefied club of billionaire Indian women to grow with Nykaa IPO

The IPO will catapult founder Falguni Nayar into India’s rarefied league of billionaire women

When India’s beauty retailer Nykaa opens its initial public offering to subscribers next week, it will catapult founder Falguni Nayar into India’s rarefied league of billionaire women.

The share sale will value the company at as much as $7.1 billion (Rs 53,245 crore approx), giving Nayar and her family a combined net worth of about $3.5 billion (Rs 26,247 crore aprox) if it meets the target. FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the formal entity that operates Nykaa, on Friday set a price range of Rs 1,085-Rs 1,125 a share.

Nayar’s Falguni Nayar Family Trust, the family’s Sanjay Nayar Family Trust and seven other related entities hold about half the stake in the company, whose shares are expected to start trading on November 11. India’s stock market has rallied 27 per cent this year, making it fertile ground for a string of blockbuster listings.

Savitri Jindal -- who with her sons controls the OP Jindal Group -- is the only Indian woman on The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. Her $13.3 billion net worth ranks her No 10 in the country. There are three other women worth at least $2.5 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Also read: Nykaa IPO to open for public subscription on Thursday: All you need to know

When the TPG and Steadview Capital-backed Nykaa lists, it will be India’s first woman-led unicorn to debut in the public markets.

Nayar, a former investment banker who helped take a stream of Indian companies to the public markets in that role, founded the beauty retailer in 2012, just months before she turned 50. The Mumbai-headquartered company offers over 2,500 brands of makeup -- everything from foundation to sheet masks, the silken kohl Indian eyeliner and the traditional body art called mehendi.

Its website, app and its 70-odd brick-and-mortar stores combined to give the company revenues of Rs 2,450 crore ($330 million) in the fiscal year ended in March, according to the company’s filing. The startup is profitable.

Nykaa’s share sale opens for public subscription Thursday and will close November 1. Anchor investors can place bids a day before the public sale opens. BofA Securities India Ltd., Morgan Stanley, Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. are among bankers to the sale.

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