BENGALURU: Indian logistics firm Delhivery is seeking a valuation of more than US$5.5bil, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the SoftBank-backed company filed for an initial public offering of up to 74.6 billion rupees (US$997.33mil).

       The filing comes on the heels of several public offerings this year, such as TPG-backed Nykaa, SoftBank-backed Paytm and online insurance aggregator Policybazaar, as abundant liquidity and strong retail participation pushed the Indian stock market to record levels.

       Delhivery, which is also a third-party logistics provider for Amazon.com Inc, competes with DHL's unit Blue Dart Express Ltd and DTDC India in a sector that had a direct spend of $216 billion in fiscal 2020 and is expected to grow to $365 billion by fiscal 2026.

       The company's IPO will consist of a fresh issue of shares worth 50 billion rupees and an offer for sale of shares worth 24.6 billion rupees, according to a copy of Delhivery's draft herring prospectus dated Nov. 1.

       Private equity firm Carlyle Group Inc, which has a 7.42% stake in the company is selling shares worth 9.2 billion rupees in the IPO, while majority shareholder SoftBank Group Corp, with a 22.8% stake, is looking to offload shares worth 7.5 billion rupees.

       Delhivery's loss widened to 4.16 billion rupees for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, from 2.69 billion rupees a year earlier, while revenue from contracts with customers rose 31% to 36.47 billion rupees.

       Kotak Mahindra Capital, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and Citigroup are the bookrunning lead managers for the IPO.

       Fashion and cosmetics e-commerce platform Nykaa on Monday became the latest start-up to draw strong investor interest for its public offering, with bids oversubscribed by nearly 82 times. - Reuters