Kolkata-based jewellery retailer Senco Gold has filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise an estimated ₹600 crore through an initial public offering.

According to the draft red herring prospectus, the company proposes to use the funds raised through the IPO to finance the establishment of new company-operated showrooms, for working capital requirements and general corporate purposes.

IDFC Bank, ICICI Securities, IIFL Holdings, Emkay Global Financial Services and YES Securities (India) are the book running lead managers for the issue. The shares would be listed on the BSE and the NSE. In an interaction with BusinessLine in November 2017, Suvankar Sen, Executive Director, Senco, had said that the company would require capital to the tune of ₹700-800 crore to fund its growth and expansion over the next two-to-three years.

Senco, had, in 2014, raised close to ₹80 crore from private equity firm SAIF Partners. The promoter currently holds 80 per cent, while the rest 20 per cent is held by the private equity firm.

For the year ended March 31, 2018, the company posted 20 per cent growth in turnover to ₹2,214 crore.

Platinum, precious stones too

Senco, which is primarily engaged in sale of gold and diamond jewellery, also sells jewellery made of silver, platinum and precious and semi-precious stones and metals. However, gold jewellery accounts for nearly 94 per cent of its total sales at ₹2,068 crore.

At present, the company has 93 showrooms across 72 cities and towns in the country. Of these, 48 showrooms are company-operated, while the remaining are run by franchisees. A majority of the showrooms (60) are in West Bengal while the remaining are spread across Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam, Delhi, Bihar, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura.

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