The company, citing the government of India’s production linked incentive (PLI) scheme had decided to shift its operations from China to India
Lava International, an Indian based handset making company, is planning to raise around Rs 1,400 Crores to Rs 1,500 Crores through an initial public offering (IPO). A report published by the Economic Times states that Lava is moving towards filing Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) by June-end.
The company, as per the report, might be looking to raise funds in order to compete against Chinese brands. The IPO might both be in the form of fresh equity and offer-for-sale. The Economic Times reports that that the promoters of company would are unlikely to pare their stakes in Lava Internatonal through the IPO.
China-based Unic Memory Technology from currently holds a total of 3.3 per cent stake in the company. A Tsinghua group company, Unic, is likely to sell the stake entirel. The same group is also knowns to own chipmaker brand- Unisoc.
“The company is exploring options for undertaking an initial public offering of its equity shares… the offer may be undertaken by the company at an appropriate time in consultation with the book running lead managers (BRLMs) and other advisers appointed for the offer,” a letter from Lava to stakeholders was quoted in the report.
The company, citing the government of India’s production linked incentive (PLI) scheme had decided to shift its operations from China to India. The company in 2020 had said that it had plans to completely shift its mobile R&D, design and manufacturing operations to the country in next six months.
“We used to have a 700-members team working on design and R&D in China. Now Lava does most of that work from India. The China team was working on designs of smartphones till now. But we have already started that entirely in India now,” Sunil Raina, president and business head, Lava, had told EFY recently.
Lava International was founded by Hari Om Rai, Vishal Sehgal and Sunil Bhalla in the year 2009. Lava is currently participating in the PLI scheme for promoting manufacturing of handsets in the country. The company has plans to invest Rs 800 crore in India operations during the next five years