Ashika files two mainboard IPO DRHPs totalling Rs 800 crore

Ashika Group has filed two mainboard initial public offering, or IPO, draft red herring prospectuses, or DRHPs, with an aggregate issue size of about Rs 800 crore. Ashika is book running lead manager for Mount Everest Breweries Ltd. and Kataline Ltd., following a merchant-banking revitalisation undertaken over the previous six to eight months.

What has Ashika disclosed about its IPO pipeline?

Ashika has disclosed two filed mainboard IPO DRHPs with an aggregate issue size of about Rs 800 crore. The presentation places both transactions under “now in execution” and identifies Ashika as book running lead manager, a role within its stated process from IPO readiness and DRHP preparation to regulatory procedures, investor roadshows and book-building.

The approximately Rs 800 crore amount is a combined issue-size figure rather than separate proposed sizes for the two issuers. Ashika does not disclose the filing dates, offer structures, valuation, individual issue sizes or proposed listing dates. The disclosure therefore confirms two active mainboard IPO mandates but does not establish the financial terms of either transaction separately.

Ashika states that it revitalised merchant banking over the preceding six to eight months. The business lists IPOs, follow-on public offerings, rights issues, open offers, buybacks, delisting, fund raising, corporate restructuring and advisory among its mandate categories. The two filed DRHPs provide evidence of execution in public issues, while the presentation does not state that every listed mandate category has been completed during that period.

Which companies are covered by Ashika's filed IPO DRHPs?

Ashika is book running lead manager for the mainboard IPO DRHPs of Mount Everest Breweries Ltd. and Kataline Ltd. Mount Everest Breweries is based in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, while Kataline is based in Nagpur, Maharashtra, according to the presentation.

Mount Everest Breweries is described as a beer manufacturer with products spanning economy, core and premium segments. It also provides contract-brewing services for third-party brands. Its stated business profile is therefore focused on alcoholic beverages and manufacturing services within beer brewing.

Kataline supplies road-marking materials, traffic-safety products and end-to-end infrastructure-marking solutions, Ashika states. Its products and services are used for highways, airports, expressways and urban roads. Compared with Mount Everest Breweries' beer portfolio across three market segments, Kataline's stated activity is oriented to road-safety materials and transport-related infrastructure applications.

How far has Ashika's merchant-banking unit progressed?

Ashika has progressed from a six-to-eight-month merchant-banking revitalisation to two filed mainboard DRHPs, while also reporting live pre-IPO mandates and an IPO pipeline under development. The filing stage is the clearest disclosed execution milestone, whereas Ashika gives neither the number nor the names of companies under its additional pre-IPO mandates.

The merchant-banking operation is headed by Rajat Baid, Director and Head of equity capital markets, or ECM, and merchant banking. Ashika states that Baid has more than 15 years of public-issue experience and has led or been part of more than 50 IPOs and listings. These figures describe Baid's professional experience rather than the number of issues completed by Ashika's recently revitalised unit.

Ashika describes merchant banking as a regulatory and Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, led activity across the public-markets lifecycle. Its stated service range includes IPOs, fund raising, corporate restructuring and advisory. The presentation does not disclose merchant-banking revenue, fees, conversion rates, transaction completion dates or a timetable for additional DRHP submissions.

What investor-roadshow activity has Ashika executed?

Ashika recently conducted investor roadshows for IndiQube Spaces Ltd. across Surat, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Kolkata. The programme involved high-net-worth individuals, or HNIs, institutional investors and analysts, and is presented separately from the two mainboard IPO DRHP mandates.

Ashika reports 11 sessions for IndiQube Spaces, consisting of boardroom conversations with selected family offices and HNIs. It also reports more than 50 investor interactions through curated discussions and more than 40 HNI and ultra-high-net-worth individual, or UHNI, investors at an exclusive dinner interaction followed by networking. These are engagement measures, not reported fundraising proceeds or subscription data.

The presentation names Mount Everest Breweries and Kataline in its recently filed DRHP section, while it names IndiQube Spaces in its recently executed roadshow section. Ashika does not state that the IndiQube Spaces roadshows were connected with either of the approximately Rs 800 crore IPO filings. The distinction separates issuer mandates at the DRHP stage from investor-outreach activity delivered for another company.

How does Ashika link merchant banking with its other businesses?

Ashika states that its ECM division draws cross-synergies from institutional equities, family office, stock broking, asset management, private equity and public-market funds, private credit, and Global VC at GIFT International Financial Services Centre. The group presents these verticals as contributors to capital connections and execution for its ECM activities.

Its institutional-equities business reports service to more than 225 institutional investors and empanelment with more than 100 institutions, including domestic institutional investors, foreign institutional investors, alternative investment funds, portfolio management services and family offices. It also has in-principle empanelment approval from more than 30 institutions. These figures provide context on investor access but are not disclosed as outcomes of the two IPO mandates.

Ashika's institutional-equities team comprises 28 research staff, 12 dealers and back-office staff, eight sales staff and two corporate-access staff. That business plans to expand coverage to more than 225 stocks across sectors by next year. Separately, Ashika's investment-banking offering includes primary and growth capital raising, debt syndication, pre-IPO fund raising, mergers and acquisitions, investor access and strategic partnerships, while merchant banking covers regulated public-market mandates.

Conclusion

Ashika has put two mainboard IPO DRHP mandates into disclosed execution, with Mount Everest Breweries and Kataline together carrying an indicated issue size of about Rs 800 crore. The mandates span beer brewing and road-safety infrastructure, while the IndiQube Spaces programme demonstrates separate investor mobilisation through 11 sessions and more than 50 reported interactions across four cities.

What to watch next is whether Ashika's live pre-IPO mandates lead to further named DRHP filings and whether the two disclosed issuers move through the stated SEBI process, investor roadshows and book-building. Ashika has not disclosed individual offer sizes, filing dates, fee arrangements, listing schedules or the identities of additional pipeline clients.