Quick Heal IPO Price Band at Rs 311-321; Issue Opens February 8-10, 2016

IT security solutions provider Quick Heal Technologies Ltd on Thursday said it will open its initial public offering (IPO) on February 8, 2016 to raise about Rs.450 crore. The issue will close on February 10, 2016.

The company has priced the offer in the band of Rs.311-321 per equity share. Based on the price band, the total issue size will range from Rs.445 crore to Rs.451.3 crore.

Quick Heal is looking to raise around Rs.250 crore by selling new shares, while its promoters Kailash Sahebrao Katkar and Sanjay Sahebrao Katkar along with private equity investors Sequoia Capital India Investment Holdings III and Sequoia Capital India Investments III will sell some of their shares in the company.

In 2010, Sequoia Capital through its funds Sequoia Capital India Investment Holdings III and Sequoia Capital India Investments III had invested Rs.60 crore in the company. Sequoia is looking to sell 4.6% out of its total 10.25% stake in the Pune-based security software company. The promoters too will dilute around 6.5% of their holding.

ICICI Securities Ltd, Jefferies India Pct. Ltd and J.P. Morgan India Pvt. Ltd are managing the offer.

The firm sells its security products under the brands Quick Heal and Seqrite for desktop, laptop, smartphone and network security and data loss prevention. Since its incorporation, more than 24.5 million licences of its products have been installed, and as of 30 June, the firm had over 6.9 million active licenses spread across more than 80 countries, according to its draft red herring prospectus.

According to the prospectus, Quick Heal plans to spend Rs.111 crore on advertising and sales promotion over a period of three years. It also plans to spend around Rs.42 crore as capital expenditure on research and development and another Rs.30 crore for buying and upgrading office premises.

The IPO comes at a time when India’s benchmark indices have lost a little over 6% since the start of the year. This has raised concerns over the long pipeline of pending IPOs.

Over 30 firms filed their draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) last year. Most of them have already received the regulator’s nod.

Quick Heal is the third company to tap primary markets this year.