SBI Life was among the 33 anchor investors that backed the legwear brand’s $61.2m round, disclosed the day before the latter went public.

India-based women’s apparel brand operator Go Fashion issued some 6.6 million shares to investors including insurer SBI Life in return for about Rs 4.56bn ($61.2m), Livemint has reported. Financial services and investment firm Fidelity and financial holding group Nomura were also among the 33 participants in the round, which took place ahead of Go Fashion’s initial public offering, which took place on November 17. Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Axis Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, Icici Prudential Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund anchored the deal alongside the Government of Singapore, Monetary Authority of Singapore and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Founded in 2013, Go Fashion provides women’s hosiery items including leggings, jeggings, denim, pants, churidars, patialas and palazzos under its Go Colors brand. Financial services firm Icici Bank’s venture capital subsidiary, Icici Ventures, invested $15.7m in the company in 2018, three years after Sequoia Capital had acquired a 30% stake for an amount reported to be between $6.9m and $9.8m. The IPO involved the issue of $168m of fresh shares and an offer for sale of up to nearly 12.9 million shares by promoters and existing shareholders. The share price stands at Rs 460 ($6.19) today against its Rs 655 to Rs 690 ($8.81 to $9.28) range. PKS Family and VKS Family Trust each held a 28.7% stake in Go Fashion pre-offering while Sequoia Capital owned 28.7%, India Advantage Fund 12.7% and Dynamic India Fund 1.1%. It will use the proceeds from the offering to build 120 brand outlets and for general corporate purposes.

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Edison Fu

Edison Fu is a reporter and Asia liaison at Global Corporate Venturing.