Ashok Soota gets ready for his second IPO, Happiest Minds files DRHP

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• After Mindtree, Ashok Soota gears up for Happiest Minds Technology IPO
• Fresh issue of up to Rs 110 crore; Ashok Soota and JPMorgan to sell stake
• IPO proceeds to be used for long term capital requirement of the company

Happiest Minds, second technology company promoted by IT industry veteran Ashok Soota, has filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) to float an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The company is offering equity shares to raise Rs 110 crore. Promoter Ashok Soota and private equity investor JPMorgan Asset Management CMDB II will be selling nearly 84.14 lakh and 2.7 crore shares, respectively. ICICI Securities Limited and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited will be the book running lead managers for the IPO. Ashok Soota currently holds 48.83 per cent stake in Happiest Minds while JP Morgan holds 19.43 per cent.

After having sold his stake in Mindtree, a company he founded, Ashok Soota launched Happiest Minds in August 2011 with focus on next-generation IT solutions in the emerging technologies of cloud computing, social media, mobility solutions, business intelligence, analytics and unified communications. Soota had plans to take the company to an IPO from the beginning, but due to subdued business in 2018, Happiest Minds had indicated that it would be difficult to achieve this target by 2020. However, Happiest Minds now intends to use Rs 101 crore from the IPO proceeds to meet the long-term working capital of the company.

According the filing, the company has a head count of nearly 2,500 people and had a total income of Rs 714.2 crore in financial year 2019-20 with profits of Rs 71.7 crore. Out of the 157 active clients, it has 24 clients in the $1-5 million bucket and 1 client in the over $10 million bucket. In the DRHP, the company stated that there was a substantial opportunity to grow the customer base.

"We have invested, and intend to continue to invest, in order to drive sales to new customers. In particular, we have made, and plan to continue to make, investments to enhance the expertise of our sales and marketing organisation within our key focus industries of Edutech, HiTech, BFSI, Industrial, Manufacturing, and Retail" stated the DRHP.