This article has been written by Hinal Khakkhar pursuing a Diploma in Merger and Acquisitions (PE and VC transactions) from LawSikho.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Barbeque Nation is one of the leading chains in India when it comes to casual dining. The very first dining outlet of Barbeque Nation was started by one of its promoters known as Sayaji Hotels in the year 2006. Currently, it owns and operates around 147 dining outlets in India across 77 cities, 5 outlets in UAE, 1 outlet in Malaysia and Oman each. Barbeque Nation is very famous among Indian Restaurants. It has a very unique concept of giving a live grill facility at every individual table. It also offers countless cuisines and has a lot of variety.
Barbeque Nation had decided to raise funds from the public in the open market by issuing Initial Public Offering (IPO). The IPO was offered in the month of March 2021 and it was open for subscription from 24 March 2021 to 26 March 2021. The company had decided to raise Rs 453 crore via this IPO. The IPO consisted of fresh equity issues of Rs 180 crore in the primary market and Rs 273 crore in the secondary market. The price band for the IPO was set for Rs 498-500 per share. Let us know more about the company and its IPO in detail.
Company background
Barbeque Nation was established in the year 2006 by opening its first outlet in the year 2008 in Aurangabad City of Maharashtra, which is known as The City of Gates. The very first outlet of Barbeque nation was started by one of its promoters known as Sayaji Hotels. Barbeque Nation is well known for its countless cuisines, variety of food and efficient service, it is also very popular as it serves individual grills on every table so that any customer can enjoy perfectly grilled food with a personal touch. Since its establishment, this company had started developing and growing in terms of revenue and in opening more and more outlets in the country. Currently, India has around 147 outlets across 77 cities.
Barbeque Nation had acquired another brand which is known as the Red Apple Kitchen. This particular brand has 10 Italian restaurants across Bengaluru and Chennai and runs under the brand name Toscano. Most of the outlets of Barbeque Nation are in Metro Cities which is around 70% and the rest 30% are in semi-urban areas. One of the key investors of Barbeque Nation is Jubilant FoodWorks and which has around a 10% stake in the company. Another major investment has been made by Alchemy Capital which is owned by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and has around a 2% stake in the company. 
Insights on IPO
Filing of paper, issue size, and price band
In the year 2017 Barbeque nation had filed for the very first-time fresh Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI for its Initial Public Offering, but during that time the process took long due to pending regulatory action for past violations, and when the company got approval from SEBI and was able to finish all the regulatory compliance for past violations in early 2018, the market conditions turned adverse and hence it could not launch the issue within one year period. Therefore, in the year 2021 on the 18th of February, Barbeque Nation re-filed fresh DRHP with SEBI for its IPO.
The total size of this IPO was around Rs 453 Crore. This IPO was in two parts, the fresh issue was around Rs 180 crore and the offer for sale was around Rs 272 crore. The IPO comprises 9057,470 equity shares with a face value of Rs 5 per share. The minimum number of shares that any person has to subscribe to was 30 and the maximum number of lots which was allowed for an investor to apply was 13 lots which is 390 shares. The minimum investment value which can be done by investors was Rs 15,000 and the maximum was Rs 1,95,000. The price band of the IPO for per share was around Rs 498-500.
Promoters, shareholders, and management
The promoters of Barbeque Nation are Sayaji Hotels, Sayaji Housekeeping Services, Kayum Dhanani, Raoof Dhanani, and Suchitra Dhanani. The stake held by the promoters’ group in the company is around 47.80% and the rest is held by public shareholders. Promotor Sayaji Housekeeping holds around 37% of the stake in the company.
Jubilant FoodWorks is the majority shareholder of the company and holds around 10% of the stake in the company. Another major shareholder in the company is Alchemy Capital which is owned by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and has around a 2% stake in the company.
The list of Board of Directors of the company are as follows:
|
Sr. No. |
Name of Director |
Designation |
|
1 |
Mr. T N Unni |
Chairman 
|
|
2. |
Mr. Kayum Dhanani |
Managing Director |
|
3. |
Mr. Rahul Agarwal |
Chief Executive Officer |
|
4. |
Mr. Raoof Dhanani |
Non-Executive Director |
|
5. |
Mr. Suchitra Dhanani |
Non-Executive Director |
|
6. |
Mr. Abhay Chaudhary |
Non-Executive, Independent Director |
|
7. |
Mr. Natarajan Ranganathan |
Non-Executive, Independent Director |
|
8. |
Mr. Devinjit Singh |
Non-Executive Director |
|
9. |
Mr. Tarun Khanna |
Non-Executive, Nominee Director |
Financials of Barbeque Nation
Barbeque Nation even with such a well-known name in the market was suffering losses since the financial year 2018. Even though the company was bearing a loss, the revenue was simultaneously booming for Barbeque Nation from the financial year 2018 to 2020, but it could not overcome the losses which the company was suffering. This is a clear indication of more loss and less revenue.
In fact, the Covid-19 situation and sudden lockdown made it more difficult for Barbeque Nation to cover up their losses in the latest financial year. This, in turn, increased the loss of Barbeque Nation to more than Rs 100 Crores by November 2020, and the revenue was around Rs 201 Crore. Looking at the short-term financials of the company, it seems to have a weak financial condition. As of now, we can say that this company is a loss-making company and the financials of the company do not look promising.
Lead Managers in the listing of IPO
The leading fund managers for the IPO of Barbeque Nation were Axis Capital Limited, Ambit Private Limited, IIFL Holdings Limited, and SBI Capital Markets Limited.
Subscription and allotment
As of 26th March 2021, which was the closing date of IPO, the shares for this issue were subscribed 5.98 x times. The public issue was subscribed 13.13x times in the retail category, 5x times in the Qualified Institutional Buyer category, and 3x times in the Non-Institutional Investors Category. The allotment of IPO was done on 1st April 2021 and by 6th April 2021 shares were credited to the Demat account of investors.
Listing of IPO
The IPO was listed on 7th April 2021 on BSE and NSE. It was listed at a 2.03 % discounted price in the market at Rs 489.85 which was a weak listing of the issue. The share price of Barbeque Nation rose 68% on 9th April and from the issue price of Rs 500, it went today high of Rs 839 on BSE.
IPO proceeds and strategies
The proceeds of the IPO were to be utilized to repay the outstanding borrowings of Rs 205 Crore which was borrowed by the company for general corporate purposes. The company had the further intention of utilizing the fresh funds from IPO in the expansion of the company and in opening more outlets for dining restaurants. The IPO money was also distributed among the existing shareholders of the company.
Barbeque Nation had intended to focus on growth by focusing on some strategies like focusing on the expansion of new outlets of restaurants which will, in turn, provide them with more customers. Further, it had aimed to preserve its customer by its team-focused culture and values.
Risk considerations
The first and foremost risk factor in the IPO of Barbeque Nation was Covid-19. Due to lockdown, the hotel industry was the one that was badly affected revenue-wise. The restaurants were shut for a long period and as it is the company was into huge losses even before this shut down. Also, post lockdown the outlets were allowed to operate at 50% capacity which in turn further affected the revenue of the company.
The food industry is one such industry where constant new dishes are to be brought up which matches the tastes and preferences of the public, and if the company fails to adapt to the preferences of the people, it might suffer on the part of revenue.
Barbeque Nation has to spend most of the time on the third party for delivery of its food, if their relationship is embroiled in any kind of disputes, then their revenue will take a hit. As it is, in these days of a global pandemic, most people prefer to order food and eat at home and so here the delivery of food plays a very important role in terms of generation of revenue. Barbeque Nation is considered to be one of the pricey restaurants which will not attract the customers of small cities.
Conclusion
To sum up we can say that the listing day of the IPO for the company was not that good and was kind of weak but two days after the listing of the company, the share price showed strong resistance in the market. As the company was making huge losses since 2018 and revenue was not sufficient to control losses the situation before the listing was worrisome, but later on, after listing, the company managed to perform well with an uptrend in its share price.
References
- https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/ipo/barbeque-nation-hospitality-ipo-10-key-things-to-know-before-the-issue-opens-6678311.html.
- https://marketfeed.news/barbeque-nation-ipo-all-you-need-to-know/.
- https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/barbeque-nation-hospitality-s-rs-453-crore-ipo-to-open-on-wednesday-121032300025_1.html.
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/ipos/fpos/barbeque-nation-hospitality-ipo-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/74223280.cms.
- https://www.barbequenation.com.
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