Labels line up for a fashion parade on Dalal Street

Mumbai: D-Street is being splashed with a riot of colours this season as several upscale fashion labels, including Manyavar, Fabindia and GoColours, seek public listings in a marketplace that normally plays host to businesses such as consumer technology, finance or chemicals.

Biba Apparels is another exclusive fashion retailer seeking to sell stock in an initial public offering (IPO), and several of these labels have been in talks with multiple investment bankers, top industry sources told ET. Nearly all of these brands are backed by bulge-bracket private equity investors, including Warburg Pincus and Faering Capital.

To be sure, July is expected to be a busy month for IPOs on D-Street, with some estimates suggesting companies such as Zomato, GR Infraprojects and Clean Science & Technology would collectively garner at least Rs 24,000 crore in initial share sales. Manyavar and Fabindia are planning IPOs that might raise between Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 2,500 crore. GoColours is likely to enter the market with an issue size of Rs 800-900 crore, according to several bankers. Biba is in initial stages of talks for a public listing, bankers told ET.

Vedant Fashions, owner of Manyavar, and Go Fashion (India), which operates under the GoColours brand, have already hired investment bankers to shepherd their IPOs, one of the bankers said.

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Fabindia, Manyavar and GoColours did not respond to ET’s mailed queries. Biba said "it had no such plans right now".

IPOs of most of these fashion labels will include a mix of both primary issuances, expanding the post-listing equity base, and offers for sale (OFS) from existing investors, including private equity players. Kedaara Capital is one of the investors in Manyavar, while PremjiInvest and Lighthouse Funds are invested in Fabindia.

Warburg Pincus and Faering Capital have stakes in Biba Apparels, while Sequoia and ICICI Venture are large investors in Go Fashion.

In-store sales have been hurt at exclusive fashion retailers through the pandemic, but robust web-commerce business and increased focus on casual wear helped protect these labels.

Recently, the management of Aditya Birla Fashion said the pandemic-led disruption accelerated digital adoption among consumers, with ecommerce, hyper-local, and other digital channels gaining higher share. "Given the weak cash positions, sinking profitability and debilitating working capital woes across categories, the second wave of lockdowns could prove fatal for many," said Jay Gandhi, analyst, HDFC Securities. "The most impacted are likely to be department stores and ethnic wear retailers that incidentally have a weak cash cover and worsening working capital positions."