Ecom Express DRHP: Partners Group to sell stake worth Rs 931 Cr

Logistics firm Ecom Express has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering (IPO). The DRHP has come just after days of an Entrackr report about the firm’s board giving a nod for the IPO.

The firm has proposed to raise RS 2,600 crore in IPO, through a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 1,284.5 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to Rs 1,315.5 crore worth equity shares.

Partners Group will be offloading shares worth up to Rs 931 crore, while Warburg Pincus and BII (formerly CDC Group) will sell shares worth Rs 211 crore and Rs 137 crore, respectively, during the offer for sale.

As per the time of filing, Partners Group is the largest stakeholder with 49.76% followed by Warburg Pincus and BII (British International Investment ) which hold 27.13% and 10.03%, respectively.

As per the DRHP, IIFL Securities Limited, Axis Capital, Kotak Investment, and UBS Securities India are the book-running lead managers of the issue.

This is the second attempt by the 13 year-old-firm for public listing. In February 2022, it approved a fundraise of up to Rs 4,860 crore via a public issue of shares. However, the firm put a hold on its IPO plan then.

Meanwhile, Ecom Express is also raising Rs 1,424 crore (approximately $172 million) from existing investors via right issue. Since its inception, it has scooped up more than $250 million through equity and debt.

Ecom Express provides logistics services in over 2,700 towns and 27,000 pin codes in India.  The firm delivered 514 million shipments in 2024 while its competitor Delhivery did 740 million during the same period. 

Importantly, out of 514 million shipments handled in FY24, Tier 2 cities accounted for 81.79% of the shipments while Metro and Tier 1 cities were at 10.52% and 7.69% respectively.

The logistics firm reported flat revenue in the last fiscal year, but the firm managed to cut costs drastically. It posted a modest 2.1% increase in its revenue to Rs 2,609 crore in FY24 as compared to Rs 2,554 crore in FY23. Its losses shrank by 40% to Rs 256 crore in the same period.